Archive for the 'Guns' Category

Slate:

Handguns are the problem. Despite being outnumbered by long guns, “Handguns are used in more than 87 percent of violent crimes,” the report notes. In 2011, “handguns comprised 72.5 percent of the firearms used in murder and non-negligent manslaughter incidents.” Why do criminals prefer handguns? One reason, according to surveys of felons, is that they’re “easily concealable.”

Mass shootings aren’t the problem. “The number of public mass shootings of the type that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School accounted for a very small fraction of all firearm-related deaths,” says the report. “Since 1983 there have been 78 events in which 4 or more individuals were killed by a single perpetrator in 1 day in the United States, resulting in 547 victims and 476 injured persons.” Compare that with the 335,000 gun deaths between 2000 and 2010 alone.

The author, William Saletan, stops short of calling for confiscation, but does want the CDC empowered to collect and analyze more information about gun owners, as well as heavier court involvement in the process of owning guns.  But on the whole, the author does better than many articles concerning at least feigning neutrality.

Communist China does not.

During the dispute, Fan grabbed a tool and bludgeoned his colleague to death. Fan then returned to the factory’s staff dormitory where he had stashed a hunting gun, retrieved the weapon and fled to Shanghai’s Pudong area in an illegal taxi. Fan then killed the vehicle’s driver and used the vehicle to drive back to Baoshan, where the factory is located, killing a soldier in front of a military unit’s barracks and thus obtaining an additional gun. With both weapons, Fan made his way back to the factory and killed another three employees, including the factory’s supervisor, before being subdued by a police officer who was patrolling the area. Four other people were shot and sustained injuries.

Gun control laws in China are some of the strictest in the world, making it difficult for most civilians to legally own firearms.  According to the South China Morning Post, an emergency meeting was held on Sunday by the Ministry of Public Security, which said it was planning to launch a more comprehensive campaign on gun management across the country.

Gun control is what communists do.  They do it reflexively, and it isn’t so much a response to violent incidents as it is refusing to let a crisis go to waste.  It’s all about ensuring a government monopoly on violence.

It’s the same for the very strange Richard Nixon, who, according to reports, was very anti-gun.

“I don’t know why any individual should have a right to have a revolver in his house,” Nixon said in a taped conversation with aides. “The kids usually kill themselves with it and so forth.” He asked why “can’t we go after handguns, period?”

Nixon went on: “I know the rifle association will be against it, the gun makers will be against it.” But “people should not have handguns.” He laced his comments with obscenities, as was typical.

Of course, Nixon didn’t seek to disarm his security staff, just the common folk.  As we’ve discussed before, it’s what the progressives (like the folks at Daily Kos) really want.

The only way we can truly be safe and prevent further gun violence is to ban civilian ownership of all guns. That means everything. No pistols, no revolvers, no semiautomatic or automatic rifles. No bolt action. No breaking actions or falling blocks. Nothing. This is the only thing that we can possibly do to keep our children safe from both mass murder and common street violence.

Unfortunately, right now we can’t. The political will is there, but the institutions are not. Honestly, this is a good thing. If we passed a law tomorrow banning all firearms, we would have massive noncompliance. What we need to do is establish the regulatory and informational institutions first. This is how we do it.  The very first thing we need is national registry. We need to know where the guns are, and who has them.

Back to the Slate article, the author advocates a continuation of the national conversation on guns.  So be it.  But I think this has been a valuable installment.  Slate admitted that mass killings, while a media event, aren’t the “real problem” with guns.  The “real problem” is ownership of handguns at all.

Or in other words, gun control – making laws that only upstanding citizens obey – is the solution of all good social planners to ameliorate the sinfulness of mankind.  It’s what the communists do.

And the horrible Richard Nixon, a statist by nature, advocated exactly the same thing.  Concerning the recent gun control efforts, Senators Manchin and Toomey have seen the “bottom fall out of their approval ratings.”  We ate them for lunch.  It’s always a good palate cleanser to see progressives confess to the truth that in spite of the posturing, it was really all about government control.

I think that the court jester is lying when he says that there are five Senators who want to change their vote on guns.  But if he can round them up, we’ll eat them for dinner.  As for the continued national conversation, bring it.  But I know your real intentions, and I’ll keep my guns.

Dr. David Codrea:

On a personal note, I find it interesting that over six years after I posted the Wintemute warning, he’s still bringing it up as evidence of the troubles he’s seen. Knowing that has resulted in my living in this guy’s head rent-free for all these years is pretty unbelievable.

Between that and getting several emails from Nature‘s Correspondence Editor beginning “Dear Dr. Codrea,” the sting of having my letter go unpublished has been somewhat dulled.

Well, this one is amusing.  I’ve been misquoted before, plagiarized word for word without attribution, and misunderstood.  But this is rich.  I love a good throw-down over the interwebz, but this one is rather one-sided.

Here’s what I think.  Had I been blogging about guns at the time of David’s post I would have issued the same warning.  I didn’t previously know anything about Wintemute.  He (Wintemute) apparently wants to be important, or at least sees himself in heroic terms, suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous oppression from David’s warnings.

But I know about Wintemute now.  As for Wintemute, I hope the fleas of a thousand camels infests his armpits.  As for David, keep making people megalomaniacal and delusional.  Watch your six, Wintemute.  We’re coming to take you away.

Read it all at Examiner.

A problem, as LEOs see it:

On July 1, a new law giving Mississippi residents the right to openly carry firearms without the need of a gun permit will go into effect.

Next week, during a two-hour block of instruction and education on the Open Carry Law, area law enforcement officers will get guidance on how the new law will impact their jobs and how to deal with citizens walking around with firearms at their side.

[ … ]

Confusion over Mississippi’s concealed weapons carry laws prompted legislators to address the issue. The law was unclear about whether or not a person carrying a concealed weapon was in violation of the law if the weapon was accidentally exposed to view. House Bill 2 clarifies the issue, stating a gun can be partially exposed if it is in a proper holster, and can be carried openly without a permit.

Some have argued that Mississippi was already an open carry gun state and that the law is causing confusion.

“The legislators created this animal and now they don’t know what to do with it,” Clarke County Sheriff Todd Kemp said. “The law has been on the books since 1890 but the people have pretty much ignored it for so many years. Now, the law has been out there in the news for a long time and I’m sure when July 1 rolls around we will see somebody walking around with a .45 strapped to their side.”

Kemp said he would like to attend the training session next week. “I’ve got some questions I’d like to ask myself,” Kemp says. “This law creates some potential problems for us as law enforcement officers and I’d like to get the AG’s office opinion on some of the things we might run into.”

[ … ]

“One of our main concerns with a citizen carrying a firearm, no matter under which law it is, that they are trained not only in the operation and functions of the firearm but when that person can deploy that firearm,” Calhoun said. “This is a huge responsibility for someone and they had better be clear on these and many other aspects of carrying a firearm otherwise it could lead to much more serious matters.”

Oh.  I see.  It’s a huge responsibility, kind of like the incident when:

“Every cop turned around and started unloading like super trigger happy as if their training was coming into full effect and they were being able to utilize it,” said Cleerdin. “Everybody was just blasting this car to pieces. It was absolutely terrifying.”

They were stunned with what was happening, as officers reportedly shot dozens of rounds – in the direction on-coming traffic.

“Cops are shooting from the front of the car, back into the rest of the on-coming traffic to the check point, into the rest of the innocent civilians down the road,” said Cleerdin.

Cleerdin says he believes the officers acted with no regard for public safety.

“It was way beyond reckless,” said Cleerdin. “I couldn’t believe it. These are professional people, professional officers, and they’re training, they’re highly trained and they’re not supposed to do stuff like that.”

Huge responsibility like when the cops did that?  So let’s make a few things clear to the LEO.  Mississippi is not a stop and identify state.  So no, you don’t have to ask an attorney since I just informed you.  You may not stop someone who isn’t violating the law, not even if you just want to know what he’s doing carrying a weapon.  The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has made that perfectly clear.  Got it?

On to the next topic.  No, this isn’t the end of the world, not even for LEOs – you know, the ones who can take on huge responsibility like carrying a weapon.  Men (and perhaps women) will open carry if they wish, and when ignorant citizens make calls about it, it will be your responsibility to educate them about the law, and demand to know what law is being violated before you dispatch a uniform and look stupid when he gets his ass dragged to court for stopping and identifying in a non-stop and identify state.

Finally, this won’t have any adverse affect on safety and security.  People who open carry won’t run around shooting others up.  After all.  Let’s review what’s happening.  This is the same thing as concealed carry, which is already legal, except that the weapon isn’t concealed.  Is that clear enough for you?  As a resident of North Carolina, which is a traditional open carry state, I assure you that your worst fears will not obtain.

There.  I feel like I have helped to the point that no further tutorial is needed from any expensive, pointy headed lawyers.  I’ve done my good deed for the day.

The Army has cancelled their competition to see which firearm will replace the Colt M4 series of rifles.  The Army has said that it was cancelled because all of the rifles failed the reliability standard of 3,592 mean rounds without malfunctioning.

After correction of the ammunition and other problems associated with the M-16 as it was initially deployed in Vietnam, this series of rifles has been effective and reliable.  To be sure, there are still detractors, the most recent problems concerning overheating of the barrel and failures associated with discharging a high number of rounds in a short time frame.

During the Battle of Wanat several M4’s had failures to feed (or failures to eject).  But the real problem with this battle wasn’t that several rifles experienced failures.  It was that the unit was placed in such a far-flung outpost without force protection or adequate troops to establish security and effect their mission.  No rifle can ameliorate bad strategy, and our war fought by the social planners and COIN experts was bad strategy.

Afghanistan has been called the war of the infantry half kilometer, as it involved longer distances than the urban warfare and CQB in Iraq.  Bob Owens mentions the cancellation of the carbine competition, and then launches into advocacy for a larger caliber, specifically the 6.5 Grendel.  This is old hat for Bob, as he has been advocating for a while now that the Army replace the 5.56 mm round, but continue to use the AR-15 platform.

But it should be remembered that with proper training, the AR-15 platform and 5.56 mm round are effective at long distances.  My son Daniel, a former Marine, routinely scored at the top of his Battalion, and they all had to qualify at 500 yards (using iron sights).  Travis Haley reminds us all how effective this gun and round can be.

Haley was shooting 5.56 mm ammunition from a Bushmaster (specifications can be found here, here and here – Haley was using a 20″ barrel, which is the major difference between the rifle he was using and the M4).  The comments to the video indicate that the targets may have been  closer than 800 meters (perhaps 600 meters), but this is far enough away to need high powered glass.

Even though the 5.56 yaws in flight (even with boat tail ammunition), it is a highly effective long distance round, while also being ideal for CQB (albeit designated marksmen and snipers may choose to carry different weapons and different calibers).  But Colt lost the contract to supply the M4, and sometimes manufacturers become complacent after so many years of sole sourcing.  In fact, my biggest problem with the competition isn’t that it’s over.  Rather, it’s that the best never participated.

And the winner of the U.S. Army competition to replace the M4 carbine is … the Army’s new and improved M4 carbine.

At least that’s the outcome gun makers attending Shot Show 2012 predict for the completion of the service’s improved carbine competition.

The Army is nearing the end of the first phase of the competition, now referred to as the IC. The service will soon announce which companies can advance to the second phase, when Army testers will start shooting hundreds of thousands of rounds through the prototype weapons.

Phase one has had nothing to do with evaluating test prototypes, but instead has focused on weeding out companies that may not have the production capacity to make thousands of weapons per month. This has become a bitter point of contention that has driven away some companies with credible names in the gun business.

“I’m not going to dump half a million to a million dollars for them never to review my rifle,” said Steve Mayer of Rock River Arms, standing amid his racks of M4-style carbines at Shot Show, the massive small-arms show here that draws gun makers from all over the world.

I have no dog in Bob’s fight over caliber, but my opinion is that the current platform and caliber are fine.  What’s needed is better training (even if not everyone can be Travis Haley), drills on shooting uphill (for those Marines and Soldiers who will deploy to terrain similar to what we saw in N2K), and lack of politics so that our men can get the best and most reliable rifles in their hands.  I have one.  It’s not so much to ask that Soldiers and Marines have them too.

If the Army chooses some other system than direct impingement, then so be it.  But it should be remembered that for everything you gain, you loose something.  I’ve held rifles that cycle ammunition from piston drive, and the front end is heavy.  It would affect CQB, and my son doesn’t even like the weight added from the quad rail on the front end of mine if it is used for CQB (my rifle is DI, not piston).

In the end, nothing can do everything, and the genius of Eugene Stoner is still with us today.

Politico:

Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that “at least five senators” have called him looking for a way to change their votes to support expanded background checks.

Speaking to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Las Vegas, Biden said the 45 senators who voted to block the background checks deal brokered by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) have seen “the bottom fall out” of their approval ratings.

Biden said, as he did Tuesday during a gun violence event at the White House, that he has been fielding calls from senators interested in signing on to some kind of gun control measure. On Friday he offered slightly more specific detail about the number of senators and the difficult path ahead for gun control legislation.

“I’ve had at least five senators call me and say, ‘Can’t we do something about this?’” Biden said. “The calculus has changed, and so we’re in an effort to try to work out how we can provide another opportunity for those who voted no to change their vote. We all know that’s the hardest thing in politics, to change your vote. That’s why we’ve got to get a rationale, another reason why this could be done by changing the specifics of the legislation.”

Biden hasn’t conveyed which senators he’s spoken with or how the background checks bill might be altered.

Just like myth that 90% or more of all Americans wanted the Senate to enact more gun laws, this is the latest make-believe story.  The fairy tale du jour is that five Senators want to change their vote on gun control and see “the bottom fall out of their approval ratings.”

Here’s what I think.  The court jester is becoming increasingly delusional.  There aren’t five Senators who want to change their vote, and Biden never fielded any such phone call.

NBC4, Washington:

Police say a 17-year-old boy has been arrested for shooting at a group of fellow teens who approached him in an attempt to rob him.

According to the Mason Police District in Fairfax County, a group of five 17 and 18-year-old teens approached a 17-year-old boy they knew and demanded his cell phone in the 9300 block of Tovito Drive.

The five teens then confronted another 17-year-old they knew. However, that teen had a handgun he fired at the group. One 18-year-old was struck and transported to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The 17-year-old who fired the weapon was arrested and charged with malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

The report is short on details.  One possible course of action during a scenario like this is what I’ve discussed before, i.e., evasion, egress and escape.  Backing away and thus changing the circumstances is better than getting shot or shooting someone.  However, this isn’t always possible, and in fact a decision to evade can be foolish and life threatening if you are outnumbered, outgunned or even simply naive and overestimate your abilities.  In most cases I would treat an aggressive approach like this as life threatening and I would defend myself accordingly.

Interestingly, the police seem to concede the point by saying that the gang attempted to rob him.  As far as anyone knows, including the police, the gang never intended to stop at demanding loot.  It must be assumed that they intended to harm or kill him, or that it could have evolved into such a situation.  And given that knowledge, this report is beautiful in its simplicity.  The gang threatened the life of this young man, he defended his life, and now he is under arrest for it.  I suppose that the police would rather he have perished at the hands of the gang.

Welcome to Amerika, comrade!

From reader Michael:

I found you via Sipsey Street links and have been reading intermittently.   I had some free time this weekend, so after going to the range both days (yay), I was catching up on some articles I missed and when I saw some of the articles about abuse by police it reminded me of a recent encounter with our county sheriff’s deputies.

I went to the courthouse to renew an expired passport.   When I got to the metal detector, I started to empty my pockets.  I told the deputy manning the walk-through that I had a pistol and reached to unholster it, something I have done several times at this courthouse without incident (they have lockers to check any weapons).  The pistol was pointed toward the floor the instant it cleared the holster.  As soon as he saw it, he started screaming at me to give him the pistol.  He was quite abrupt, unneccesarily I thought since I was the one holding a pistol.  I told him I was going to clear the chamber before I handed it to him, but he continued to scream so I just handed it to him hot.  Once through the metal detector, the sheriff approached and asked if I was law enforcement.   He did not recognize me, disappointing since I take care of his wife, daughter and son-in-law, as well as having taken care of his late mother.  He was polite, but clearly of a superior attitude. When I came back, Seargant Schultz was on break and another deputy retrieved my pistol, but refused to return it to me until we had reached the sidewalk in front of the courthouse, about 100′.  During the entire walk, he kept asking “Why do you carry a pistol? (because I can), “Don’t you have a locked compartment in your car? (I have had several cars broken into, and I can’t protect myself with a pistol that is locked in my car), “Maybe you shouldn’t bring a gun to the courthouse” (your rule to not have it inside, so you should provide a place to check it).

This sheriff is new, currently serving his first term, but he apparently runs a rather loose-cannon department with disrespect for the people he allegedly serves.   Never had any problems like this with the prior sheriff, who retired after about 25 years.   Guess I know what campaign I will be working on the next time a sheriff election is held here.

Thanks for the writings.   Being a physician in this day and age is especially distressing, as I have a better idea than most (I think) of the mayhem that lies ahead in our already collapsing “health-care” system.  Your take on events (as well as that of Mike Vanderbough, David Codrea, and WRSA) is a reassuring boost to a flagging spirit.

The Kansas City Star:

Some 30,000 people in the U.S. die each year by gunshot, and one reason there aren’t more effective efforts to stop the carnage is that “the faith community has been asleep — fast asleep,” says a pastor who has worked for decades to reduce gun violence.

PTR Industries released a statement not long ago that read in part:

With a heavy heart but a clear mind, we have been forced to decide that our business can no longer survive in Connecticut – the former Constitution state.

Furthermore, we feel that our industry as a whole will continue to be threatened so long as it remains in a state where its elected leaders have no regard for the rights of those who produce and manufacture its wealth. We are making a call to all involved in our industry to leave this state, close your doors and show our politicians the true consequences of their hasty and uninformed actions. We encourage those in our industry to abandon this state as its leaders have abandoned the proud heritage that forged our freedom.

This is a strong statement, and pertains not only to what PTR Industries intends to do with their own business, but their admonition to other manufacturers in Connecticut (are you listening, Colt and Mossberg?).  But now we know where they are headed.

Michael Bane:

So I’m in charge of taking care of the menagerie tonight and the television is on to keep me company. I’m listening to a Republican — let me restate that…Republican — analyst state how excited he is about a 2016 Presidential match-up between Hillary Clinton and Chris Christie. Because, see, Chris Christie is the bestest conservative Republican candidate in the whole wide world!

I have to say that Chris Christie would be the final straw…I have been as pragmatic as anyone on wading through this political cesspool…sucked it up for McCain…sucked it up for Romney…but I will be damned if I’ll cast a vote for an antigun floating…well, whatever it is that floats in cesspools…like Chris Christie.

Right.  Chris Christie is a gun-grabber, and take careful note that he appointed a Senator who is the same thing.  His record speaks volumes.

David Codrea notes that the NYPD was rebuffed concerning purchase of a sniper rifle (see WRSA too).

The Survivalist Blog publishes a piece on why one writer got his concealed carry permit.  David Codrea notes why he didn’t.

The Yankee Gunner has a nice piece on open carrying in Connecticut at Newtown.  Yes, Newtown.  You heard that right.

Finally, The Charlotte Observer has a piece on Police Chief Rodney Monroe on his support for gun controls.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe called for a national assault weapons ban on Tuesday, joining a growing number of police chiefs across the country who have said the assault-style weapons should be outlawed.

Monroe said he feels strongest about restrictions on guns with high-capacity magazines, like the one used in the Newtown, Conn., shootings that left 20 children dead.

“We should not be seeing those kinds of weapons on our city streets,” Monroe said. “Back in the early ’90s, when we had the assault weapons ban, we saw a significant decrease in multiple shootings, multiple gun violence, so it only makes sense that we consider that again.”

Monroe called for the assault weapons ban during a meeting of the Business Leaders of Charlotte, a group that brings high-profile Charlotteans in as speakers every month to discuss issues of the day.

“I hope today that we can take away an honest understanding of the gun-control debate in the country,” said Michael Barney, the group’s president.

Monroe also told the group he thinks everyone who buys a gun should be subjected to a background checks.

You know, it’s really a shame.  Years ago the functions of Sheriff and Police were separated in order to stop politics within the functions of police – because the police ought to be policing, not politicking.  Guess it didn’t work out so well.