News and views.

Jacobs tells ABC11 that his friends in the ammunition industry cite the shortage of primer as being a major factor. The primer is the chemical or device that is responsible for making the bullet combust, according to Jacobs. This key ingredient is manufactured in Italy, a country devastated by COVID-19 in recent months.

“That created this huge backlog in the need for primers,” Jacobs said.

As a result, many shops are needing to raise ammo prices. Jim’s Gun Jobbery has had to raise theirs by 100 percent.

“The manufacturer or distributor has, you know, increased the price, and so, we have to turn around and market up, in order to not lose money,” Jacobs explained.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard primers as the critical path component for the ammunition supply problem.

Bloomberg.

A Michigan weapons maker is seeking to halt imports of what it says are cheap Chinese knockoffs of its battery-powered pistol sights.

Trijicon Inc. filed a patent complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission on July 29, saying that Holosun Technologies Inc., of Los Angeles County, is working with a manufacturer in China to sell “red dot” sights that replicate features on which Trijicon has held a patent since 2013.

While the Trump administration has made intellectual property protection a key plank of its policy towards China, patent cases such as Trijicon’s are subject to detailed legal procedures. Ben Langlotz, a gun patent attorney with Langlotz Patent & Trademark Works LLC not working on the case, said there are multiple patents on red-dot sights, spanning a variety of characteristics.

Trijicon claims its sights have housing with increased durability and easier use. The technology is used in Trijicon’s Specialized Reflex Optic, which has a recommended retail price of $749. The most expensive Holosun sight referenced in the complaint goes for about $471, its website shows.

Trijicon, whose biggest source of revenue last year was from federal law enforcement agencies, said in its complaint said that its sights are used by hunters in competitions and for target shooting. The market for guns and related products has boomed amid rising social unrest in the U.S. this year.

Trijicon also filed a mirror suit in federal court in California, but that’s likely to be on hold until the ITC case is done. Agency investigations typically take 15-18 months, while a typical patent case in district court lasts two to five years.

I have mixed feelings about this.  First of all, if Holosun did in fact steal trade secrets or infringe on patents, they deserve to be shut down in the U.S.  Theft of intellectual property harms not only investors, but workers as well.  It has gone on for far too long and should be stopped.

I hope the facts are carefully presented and the judge circumspect.  Because on the other hand, I despise that Trijicon’s main customer is law enforcement and not the general public.

I also despise the fact that Trijicon is so expensive, and for that reason alone I’ll probably never have a Trijicon scope or sight (Here, to compete with the Trijicon RMR, I hope that Vortex can come up with a pistol red dot sight better than 3 MOA and do better on price point).  Competition is as sacred as intellectual property rights.  Theft should not be tolerated, but competition should be encouraged.  It would seem to me that the notion that a patent can hold property rights to dots, reticles and magnification is absurd.

So let’s say that Holosun had stolen holographic sight technology from EOTech, that would be a clear violation of law.  To the best of my knowledge, only EOTech so far can make claim to holographic sights.  Correct me if I’m wrong about this.

Here is the California docket and complaint, and here is the patent in question.

Good for him.  However, I do have one question for James.  You say you support the notion of the law barring felons from purchasing firearms.

Would you hold this same position if they declared your political views a hate crime and forced you to spend a year in prison under a felony charge for believing what you do?

Good video.  This is why generally speaking, I don’t like the idea of shooting rifles inside homes or in neighborhoods.

A pistol or pistol caliber pistol carbine (PDW) seems preferred to me based on the risk of shooting high velocity rounds.  And in the pistol or carbine, use personal defense rounds (hollow point), with proven ballistic tests for expansion.  Lucky Gunner has good tests online.

And there is a corollary point.  +P rounds aren’t necessarily the best home defense rounds for this reason.  I shoot 45 ACP, and there are some very hot +P loads for that caliber, including 450 SMC (which is way too hot for something like home defense – I carry for that bear defense in the bush with a 22# recoil spring).

Buffalo Bore and Double Tap make some of the hottest loads, including in PD ammunition.  It isn’t at all apparent to me that these loads would be a better choice.  The homeowner must be the judge given circumstances.

This video and those like it make the pistol caliber carbine a worthy investment for home defense.

Via David Codrea, news from Virginia.

The high number of denials is due in part to confusion among firearms dealers and their customers about how the monthly or 30-day restriction period is calculated. Many believed that the law would not apply to purchases they made during the month before the law went into effect on July 1.

She’s a liar, but she’s paid to be a liar.  That’s how she makes her living.  There’s nothing plain about the language.  I could interpret it multiple ways.

If I was going to make this abominable law, at least I would have thought about the difference between one per month, one per 30 days, and whether the Δt (differential time) had to be the total amount stipulated in the stupid new law or if the one handgun could be purchased within the time window regardless of location within that window.

But maybe that’s the point, huh?  To help confuse everyone because of less than plain language.

News from Florida.

“This is an easy one for me” to support, Commissioner Kristine Isnardi said.

“I’m happy that it went through,” Lober said after the County Commission meeting, although he noted that it may be a challenge to get an open-carry bill approved by the Florida Legislature in the form he wants.

Commission Vice Chair Rita Pritchett voted against Lober’s resolution.

Pritchett said she encourages people to get concealed weapons permits and carry their weapons, and believes 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds “should have complete adult rights.”

But Pritchett said she has qualms about having open-carry in Florida.

“I do believe that people should carry guns,” Pritchett said. “I’m just struggling right now with where I’m landing on open-carry.”

[ … ]

Three states (California, Florida and Illinois) and the District of Columbia generally prohibit people from openly carrying firearms in public. Two states (New York and South Carolina) prohibit openly carrying handguns, but not long guns. And another three states (Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Jersey) prohibit openly carrying long guns, but not handguns.

[ … ]

Indialantic resident Fred Rotz, who has a concealed weapon permit, said he is not against guns, but strongly objects to open-carry, saying it’s “provocative and unnecessary and unproductive.”

What a shame that South Carolina gets brought up again as being aligned with New York in disallowing open carry.  What an embarrassment to the Palmetto state.  Say, why doesn’t Palmetto State Armory get involved in the politics behind this?  They have substantial pull in S.C., and the resources to effect change.  So does FN, right down the road from PSA in Columbia.

This is weak tea.  All the county is doing is suggesting a new state law.  It would have been better for this county to have gotten into a knock-down drag-out fight with the state over this.  At least it would show Florida LEOs and pols how stupid they have been.

NPR.

This summer the Trump administration rolled out the President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS) – a long awaited strategy to bring down the rate of suicide in the military and among civilians. It focuses on enlisting community partners and a public awareness campaign to fight the stigma around seeking help during a mental health crisis.

Critics in congress have said the plan isn’t proactive enough. But it does address one issue that has been seen as politically taboo: access to guns.

Suicide is notoriously difficult to study since it’s a rare event, even as suicide rates for the military and civilians are on the rise. But if there’s one obvious place to fight veterans’ suicide, it’s firearms. Gun owners are four times more likely to die by suicide. Veterans are almost twice as likely to be gun owners, and one study showed that one in three vets store their guns loaded and unlocked. Guns are by far the deadliest method of suicide.

But keeping guns away from veterans has been politically radioactive.

“People really haven’t wanted to touch the issue of firearms safety,” said Terri Tanielian, a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND corporation.

She says the new White House roadmap was a bit disappointing – it took 15 months to endorse a set of recommendations that aren’t very new.

But she is happy that the White House plan mentioned “safe storage” of guns. There had been rumors that the powerful gun-rights lobby would get that section removed from the plan.

“Now that we’re wading into that water, it is good to see that we are willing to talk about it and engage partners and do something meaningfully on this issue,” Tanielian said.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has been talking about gun safety since at least 2013, sometimes putting free trigger-locks in big bowls in the waiting rooms, like lollipops at the doctor’s office. Still, Dr. Matt Miller, director of VA suicide prevention, doesn’t say politically loaded words like “gun control.”

“We’re not talking about broad restrictions. We’re talking about lethal-means safety in the context of suicide prevention,” he said.

Miller wants to dispel the stigma about seeking help. He says anyone can be in emotional pain; anyone can have suicidal thoughts. He wants veterans to think about keeping guns safely out of reach when they’re in crisis. Miller said suicide is usually an impulsive act, but guns make it much more likely to be lethal.

“Miller wants to dispel the stigma about seeking help.”  Bull crap.  Here’s a stigma for you.  Any veteran who ever seeks emotional help will never get his rights restored and will always be incapable of filling out Form 4473.

Protestors on their way to harass the Seattle police chief ⁦@carmenbest⁩ at her home, encountered locals who were not in the mood to host protests in their neighborhood.

Protestor: “We are peaceful! You pointed a gun at my face!”

Resident: “That’s why you are peaceful.” pic.twitter.com/QU0FzwReNG

— Mike (@Doranimated) August 4, 2020

This is worthy of news today, but mark my words.  This will be the norm shortly.  Armed neighborhood watches, as it once was, as it should be today.  As it always should have been.  Men policing and protecting their families and neighbors.

Let me make it clear. I wouldn’t be protecting cops, for a whole host of reasons too involved to catalog. To me, this is exemplary of the future for every neighborhood.

Zerohedge, via David Codrea.

Seattle radio host and self proclaimed “Cat Dad” Paul Gallant had taken to Twitter back in June to respond to President Trump’s handling of the protesters in Seattle. Responding to a Tweet where the President was critical of the Seattle mayor, Gallant responded “Chill dawg” before saying he saw “no burning, pillaging or deaths” in his city.

Today, Paul has taken to Twitter to sing another tune: “I feel like I need to buy a firearm”.

Why the change in attitude? Perhaps it was because rioters in his city trashed and looted the downstairs to his apartment complex. Gallant arrived back at his apartment this weekend to find it vandalized and looted.

Oh.  I see.  So you would go after the rights of peaceable men and support those who would enslave them, but when they come for you, it’s different because you are elite and have a right to life.

I hope you can’t find one, jerk.