Texas Monthly:

On most Sunday mornings, Willeford would have been 45 minutes away, in San Antonio, at the Church of Christ he and his family had attended since his kids were young. But on November 5, 2017, he decided to stay home and rest up. He was scheduled to be on call the upcoming week at San Antonio’s University Hospital, and he knew he’d inevitably be summoned for a middle-of-the-night plumbing emergency. He had drifted to sleep sometime before 11:30 a.m. when his oldest daughter, Stephanie, came into his bedroom and woke him up. She asked if he heard gunfire.

He did hear something, but to Willeford it sounded like someone was tapping on the window. He looked outside but didn’t see anyone. He pulled on a pair of jeans and went to the living room, where the walls were less insulated. The sound was louder there. It was definitely gunfire, he realized, but he couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

He rushed into a back room and opened his steel gun safe, where he stows his collection of pistols, rifles, and shotguns. Without hesitation, he snatched one of his AR-15s. He’d put the rifle together himself, swapping out parts and upgrading here and there over the years. It was light, good for mobility, and could shoot quickly. It wasn’t as accurate as some of his other rifles but good enough to hit the bowling pins he and his friends used for targets. He loaded a handful of rounds into the magazine.

[ … ]

As he approached the old white chapel, he screamed as loud as he could, “Hey!” To this day, he’s not sure why—he knows that giving away your position is foolish, tactically—but friends inside the church later told him that when the gunman heard Willeford’s cry, he stopped shooting and headed for the front door. “It was the Holy Spirit calling the demon out of the church,” he tells people.

[ … ]

Willeford propped his AR-15 on the pickup’s hood and peered through the sight. He could see a holographic red dot on the man’s chest. He fired twice. He wasn’t sure he’d hit him, though he was later told that the man had contusions on his chest and abdomen consistent with getting shot while wearing body armor. Regardless, the gunman stopped shooting and ran for a white Ford Explorer that was idling outside the chapel, roughly twenty yards from where Willeford had positioned himself.

As the shooter rounded the front of the Explorer, Willeford noticed that the man’s vest didn’t cover the sides of his torso. Willeford fired twice more, striking the man once beneath the arm—in an unprotected spot—and once in the thigh.

[ … ]

Willeford believes that what happened that day was a battle between good and evil. He says he was terrified, but he thinks the calm he experienced was the Holy Spirit taking over. He tells people he thinks it was the Lord’s hand shielding him as the man doing evil fired over and over again in his direction. And looking back now, he feels like God had been shaping him every day of his life, carving him into the perfect tool for that day.

[ … ]

He’d even had discussions with a police officer friend, long before his encounter with the gunman, about where to aim on a moving target wearing body armor: the side, the hip, the leg. More preparation from God, he believes.

[ … ]

For most of the afternoon, he was convinced he’d be going to jail, despite repeated assurances from the officers interviewing him. He’s always told people: if you use your gun, even in self-defense, expect to spend a night in jail before it’s all sorted out. He talked to five different law enforcement agencies, but his worries were assuaged only after the district attorney for Wilson County, Audrey Louis, introduced herself and put him at ease. She told him she had friends in that church, and she gave him a hug.

[ … ]

When the owner of Sons of Liberty learned that the rifle Willeford had used on the morning of the shooting had been confiscated and had yet to be returned, he insisted on building him a new one. It’s painted a desert camouflage, with a brown Texas flag on one side and a passage from Romans 13:4 on the other: For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. (Law enforcement recently returned the rifle to him in a ceremony at the church.)

[ … ]

So in those moments, when his mind is unoccupied, here is what Willeford is fated to ponder: if he’d arrived fifteen seconds sooner, Kris Workman might still be able to walk. If he had been there a minute earlier, Workman’s mother, Julie, might not have a bullet hole in her leg. If he’d gone running when he first heard the tapping on his bedroom window, maybe he could have saved some of the children.

When these thoughts start to consume him, he’s learned to remind himself he did the best he could.

There is so much there it’s difficult to mine it all, but a few things jump out.  First of all there are the tactical lessons.  Body armor, legs, hips and head.  Remember those lessons.  I will too.

Next, while I understand the need to collect firearms for forensic analysis, that firearm was Willeford’s and law enforcement had absolutely no right to keep it that long.  Not to law enforcement: be about your business.  The property you have belongs to someone else, an individual or the taxpayers.

Then there is the issue of the fact that Willeford was certain he’d be jailed for doing the right thing.  What a sad commentary on the state of America.

Finally, he did do the best he could.  There is no reason to second guess what happened.  He did God’s bidding.  I am a Calvinist.  God ordained that Willeford would be there that specific day, that he would have access to firearms to protect the community, and that he would respond.  And God made his shots true.  He was God’s tool for righteousness that day.

No regrets, no looking back, sir.  You did great.

But for God’s sake, Stephen.  Keep loaded magazines handy.

Take advantage of this as a free thread to discuss the mid-term elections.  I’ll kick it off to observe that we always knew that Trump gave us more time, an oasis in what is still a very dry desert.

Remember that approximately half of the country is still collectivist and thinks of the state as god.  Marx and Freud did their jobs well in the colleges, as did Horace Mann in the public school system.  Coupled with an anemic and powerless church who refused to teach their congregants theology and instead fed them crumbs and sweet snacks, and it makes for a country that cannot be turned.

America is divided, and it will remain so.  Even now, the lines are hardening.

The Hill:

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of California’s concealed carry laws, which give locally elected sheriffs discretion over issuing licenses for good cause.

Sacramento County residents James Rothery and Andrea Hoffman, who were denied licenses more than 10 years ago, argue the law deprives them of their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for protection outside the home and violated the clause of the Constitution that affords everyone equal protection under the law.

The law allows each city and county the power to issue a written policy setting forth the procedures for obtaining a concealed-carry license for good cause. It also allows retired police officers to obtain concealed carry permits without having to show “good cause.”

The residents argued the Sacramento County sheriff was issuing permits to friends, donors and supporters but excluding others.

But state officials said Rothery now has a concealed carry permit thanks to a new sheriff, who changed the definition of good cause after taking office in 2010. That definition required only a stated desire to have the ability to carry a weapon for purposes of self-defense, or defense of a family, to obtain a license. Hoffman has not reapplied for a permit since being denied in 2008.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision to dismiss the case. The court held the Second Amendment does not protect, in any degree, the carrying of concealed firearms by members of the general public.

The decision by the Supreme Court not to hear the case keeps that ruling in place.

So the decision the SCOTUS made pertained to Mr. Rothery and that Ms. Hoffman could have ameliorated this situation with a simple re-application.  Easy, right?

Not so fast.  This doesn’t change the rest of California, nor does it ensure that their rights will be honored in perpetuity.  That would require a SCOTUS decision, and they weren’t willing to give it.  Do not entrust your rights to black-robed tyrants.  You’ll be disappointed.

As I’ve said many times before, rights come from the Almighty and thus are as immutable as He is.  The constitution is a covenant and contract (remember those classes in covenants and contracts, lawyers?).  It means only that the state (county, state or FedGov) is or is not honoring the duly constituted covenant under which we’ve all agreed to live.

Thus it means that the state has declared war on its people.  Broken covenants means being cursed by God.  It’s that simple.  You don’t break covenants without consequences.

Via Fred Tippens, news from Maryland:

FERNDALE (WBFF) — Anne Arundel County Police are investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred Monday morning in Ferndale.

Police spokesman Jacklyn Davis said officers responded to 103 Linwood Avenue at around 5:15 a.m. to serve an “emergency risk protective order,” also known as the red flag order.

Police say Gary J. Willis, who was the subject of the Extreme Risk Protective Order and the Emergency Petition, answered the door armed with a handgun.

When officers began to serve Willis with the order, he became irate, opened the door to the residence and grabbed the gun according to police. They say, an attempt was made by an officer to take the gun away from Willis when Willis fired the gun.

A second officer fired their service weapon, striking Willis, who was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Davis says no Anne Arundel County officers were injured in the struggle. The suspect was pronounced dead on scene.

Brought to you by the department of pre-crime in the land of “Minority Report.”  Judges and legislators: mind readers, one and all.  Capable of discerning right from wrong and predicting the future even before it happens.

Shooting Illustrated has a good review of the Ruger AR 556 in 450 Bushmaster.

I do find this quite an interesting cartridge.  It’s also informative that Leupold came out with a scope specifically designed for this cartridge, called the VX-Freedom 3-9x40mm Bushmaster.  It’s also reasonably priced.

I’d like to know if any readers have a Ruger AR 556 (the make, form factor, materials and gunsmithing will all be about the same regardless of caliber, so any input is appreciated).

Mr. Guns and Gear thinks the make is nice but they should Melonite the barrel.

Ryan Saavedra on Twitter: “Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams says she will ban semi-automatic rifles and she *refuses* to answer whether she’ll have the government go door-to-door and confiscate people’s firearms.

But I guess that doesn’t apply to everyone (via WiscoDave).

Members of the Black Panther Party marched through the city of Atlanta, strapped with assault rifles and brandishing Stacey Abrams campaign signs.

In a video posted on the group’s Facebook page on Saturday, members of the Black Panther Party are seen marching through the West End neighborhood of Atlanta in support of Stacey Abrams gubernatorial campaign. As they marched, the Black Panthers carried assault rifles and continually shouted slogans such as “black power” and “power to the people.”

[ … ]

One of the members can be heard saying afterward: “You need to march in your neighborhood. When we was [sic] in West Virginia, 99 percent crackers, stone cold crackers.”

Nice sentence construction there.  No one knows what you’re talking about.  Here’s a tip: learn English.

But on to the point, it would appear that he isn’t concerned about the candidate for Governor taking his weapons, only those of others.

Hey, Georgia is an open carry state only with permit.  Did they all have permits, and did anyone check?  Did police charge them with brandishing weapons?

Calling Atlanta police.  Anyone?  Perhaps a PR employee of the Atlanta Police Department?

We discussed this a bit earlier, and TTAG has an informative update on it.  For a summary, see the picture below, but make sure to read the stupidity at TTAG.

Oh dear.  Am I going to have to teach some ignorant ATF agent and DoJ lawyer, who never studied geometry, the Pythagorean Theorem?  Good Lord.  I guess if you can’t get a job doing anything else, you go to work for the ATF.

Before we get to that, perhaps we ought to teach DoJ lawyers about the second amendment.

David Codrea:

What’s not is what will happen next. At this writing, we are two weeks away from the midterm elections. We’ll see if enough gun owners are motivated to keep the momentum on the High Court going or if a predicted “Blue Wave” washes away our hopes. Expect things to get “New York state of mind”-ugly either way.

As I’ve said before, politics is the initial stages of what China calls “Unrestricted Warfare.”  You do it in order to prevent things from getting uglier.  We’ll see how motivated gun owners are in protecting their rights.  Or perhaps they’re sitting on the couch watching sitcoms.

By the way, I agree completely on David’s take on Kavanaugh.

This is very interesting.  As if you needed another reason to keep your hands away from the end of the cylinder where it meets the forcing cone, watch until the end when he shoots the revolver.

Forbes:

For a while this summer, Ginger Chandler ignored the emails from LodeStar. As an executive who had formerly worked on product development for Smith & Wesson and Remington, she was an obvious candidate to help the startup develop a better smart gun. But she knew the history of smart gun efforts in the United States.

In short, they’d failed. Smart guns are a kind of graveyard of heroes who have been torn apart on the rocky shoals of American gun politics.

Chandler had been laid off from Remington as it neared bankruptcy in spring 2017. She’d started a platform for to help small gun accessories makers to access markets. But she had time. So, she started to think about the idea.

“Smith & Wesson ran after this 20 years ago and failed,” said Chandler. “Other companies have done it and failed. And I’m not interested in addressing the politics. I feel like we get it wrong every time we try to do that.”

But the executives at the company were on a mission.

CEO Gareth Glaser had a 30-year career in corporate America, but after a mid-career program at Harvard he wanted to do something with a social mission.

Ah, how sweet.  A social mission.  It’s all mere altruism, isn’t it.  But wait.

Ralph Fascitelli, another executive, had long been involved in Seattle-based Washington CeaseFire, which advocated pragmatic solutions to gun violence. They both saw smart guns as a business-oriented, pragmatic solution to gun violence, and a big market: They estimate potential sales at $1 billion, or about 40% of the 7 million unit handgun market.

There were high-profile investors involved (though they don’t want to be public), including a former CFO of Smith & Wesson, Chandler told me. The company has raised $500,000 and needs about $3 million to start producing the guns.

LodeStar was appealing, to be sure, Chandler thought.

“Giving people options so that they can maintain their firearms and keep others who are not authorized from using them …  that is a good and honorable cause,” she said. “No one would disagree with that.”

She found herself open to the idea. But there were other challenges.

The idea of smart guns makes incredible sense: build guns with tech-enabled safety features, like fingerprint IDs, that could prevent them from being used by someone who doesn’t own them. Take, for instance, the 15,000 children who are killed or injured by guns every year (the number is based on 2015 stats). “Smart guns can reduce gun deaths by 37%, which correlates with our own analysis re saving lives from suicides, domestic violence, police gun grabs, stolen guns used in homicides, child accidents, school shootings involving teenage underage shooters,” said Fascitelli by email.

In other words, the technology used on your smart phone, applied to guns, could save as many as 37 people out of the 100 who die each day from guns, not to mention those who are injured by guns. In fact, the three big gun safety/public health experts have all voiced support for smart guns: UC Davis’s Dr. Garen Wintemute, Johns Hopkins’ Dr. Stephen Teret and Harvard’s Dr. David Hemenway.

The market for smart guns starts with parents who want to keep their kids safe and police departments who worry about guns being turned around on police officers.

But when companies have tried to introduce them – Mossberg Firearms, iGun and most recently, German company Armatix – some of the technology wasn’t as easy as it is now. There’s been a backlash from the gun community.

So which is it?  Either the gun community will accept these things because no one could possibly disagree with such an approach, and it makes good sense, and it’s a swell idea, or the gun community has rejected them and is causing a “backlash.”  Which is it?  It can’t be both.  Only a lousy reporter wouldn’t probe to find the truth.  Only a shill would write an article that sounds like an ad.

The NRA says officially that it is concerned that technology introduced in guns could make guns less safe, though that claim is widely dismissed. The second issue is that smart gun technology could be mandated, which both the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation object to. More than 15 years, a New Jersey law seemed to confirm some gun owners’ worst fears:

A law sponsored by Loretta Weinburg in 2002 mandated that only smart guns could be sold in New Jersey within three years after the first model hit the market anywhere in the United States. That law is now largely regarded as a well-meaning failure — even by Weinberg — because it touched off such a nasty dispute with gun rights proponents,  as columnist Mike Kelly wrote.

Smart guns haven’t received much support from some gun control organizations over the years – though the Obama Administration tried to promote research into them.

“The major gun safety groups like Brady have done very little to promote a technology approach. … This we “believe” is because of a small group of naive well-heeled idealists on the left don’t want a safer gun to be the solution to gun violence   The idealists on the left, who supported the New Jersey mandate, and right have prevented a pragmatic solution for a long time,” said Fascitelli.

So the controllers haven’t pushed technology, it’s the right teaming up with the left that has prevented smart guns.  Well, this is a narrative I haven’t heard before, maybe because it’s idiotic.

In addition, politicians in New Jersey seemed open to changing the 2002 that would have mandated smart guns in New Jersey (which some in the gun community objected to on principle and as a sign that other states would follow.)

This week, in the wake of the Tree of Life shootings, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he would introduce new gun control bills, including one that would replace the mandate. The new legislation would require every New Jersey gun retailer to carry at least one smart gun

Mandates did trouble Chandler, but New Jersey seemed to be conceding part of that battle, and truthfully, over the years she had come to have a more nuanced view of the subject.

“When seatbelts got mandated in Texas, it made me angry that they were trying to legislate an individual right. But when somebody has a wreck without one, all of your insurance goes up,” she said. “Then, in my first job out of school, I designed air bags. Air bags save lives.

Mandating that they are in cars is not a bad thing.”

[ … ]

So now we get to the crux of the issue, yes?  It’s not that this is an economic option for people, it’s not that it’s the far right teaming up with the far left to kill the idea, it’s not that the technology sucks, it’s not that it can be hacked, it’s not that it’s another step in the process of defending life, it’s not the failure modes inherent in yet another complex component in the train of equipment, it’s all really about the need to mandate these things.

I asked if, in the wake of her decision to join LodeStar to work on smart guns, whether she’d gotten any hate from her friends or the community. She was nervous about that, she said.

But, no. “What I did get was, ‘Ginger, that’s such an uphill battle. Why would you spend your time there. They’re not against smart guns. They just don’t think anybody can do it.”

That’s not the kind of remark that stops Chandler, who seems not only pragmatic but one of those people who slices through obstacles like butter. Saving 37 lives every day seems like a pretty good goal.

“I just kind of believe this is a good thing,” she said. “I believe this will happen.”

She’s a liar.  She doesn’t really believe in them, and she doesn’t really believe the market can support this.  She believes that she can sell the product if the government mandates that all other products are illegal.

I remind readers of my challenge.  Hard hats and ketchup, folks.  I have yet to have anyone take me up on it.  And as for money, I hope and recommend that she and leftist investors of all sorts drop millions upon millions upon millions of dollars into the venture.  I think that would be wonderful – and a good social mission.