Firearms

I ran across an article on the 6.5mm cartridge and long distance shooting that was fairly informative.  I found it by duplicating a google search for "savage f class production goals" that brought a reader to my blog, presumably landing on my Building a Boomershooter post.  I'd like to take a moment to thank the reader for leading me to a good article!

I got an email from the Fifty Caliber Institute today.  It contained a call to action concerning a shooting facility being constructed in Nevada; apparantly some of the local folks weren't too happy with the idea of having a shooting range nearby.  Just a typical sort of call-to-action to protect a shooting facility, right?  I got some alarm bells when I saw the paragraph below...

We ask that all 50 caliber target shooters go to the website listed below and sign the petition that is online. Be very careful how you sign the petition, because it can be construed as a vote to close the range. Read the instructions attached below.

So I went to look at the petition itself.  It's short, so I'll reproduce it here:

We the undersigned homeowners in Northwest Las Vegas object to the Clark County Shooting Park and were never informed of the shooting park prior to purchasing our homes. Our concerns include health issues and the long term effect from the accumulation of lead and lead dust from ammunition blowing into our yards, pools and the upper Las Vegas Wash, how disturbing firearms generating as much as 170 decibles of repetitive noise from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. will be, and the congestion from the projected 300,000 visitors per year this park will bring to our quiet rural community along with the potential for untoward incidents. We are also deeply concerned about the safety of the students at Shadow Ridge High School(4000 feet away)and the disruption of instruction that may be caused by the Shooting Park.

We feel this Shooting Park should be moved to a more suitable location far from residential dwellings and schools.

Without going into any of the actual issues, it's clear that this is a petition to stop the range, not protect it.  Shooters are being encouraged by this email to sign the petition and leave positive comments about the range.  Clicking on the signatures page shows over 300 signatures, almost all of the recent ones pro-gun based on the comments left.  Great, right?

Wrong.

The only thing the petition organizers are going to do with this is ignore the comments and publish the total number of signatures on the petition.

Regardless of the comments left with the signature, each person signing can be (and undoubtedly WILL be) counted as opposing the shooting range.  Because that's what the petition says, and they signed it.  The comments left are irrelevant; what matters is how big the printed stacks of signatures are when shown to local officials, or whatever other acts of political theater are planned.  I would be surprised if anyone bothers to read the comments at all.

As a result, I would be very surprised if this particular call to action generates anything positive for the shooting community.  In fact, I would expect it to make matters worse.  Be careful what you sign, folks, even if you get the word from a trusted source.  They may have the best of intentions but still be making a tactical mistake.

Am I sure it's a mistake? No, of course not; I'm too far away from the issue.  I did let the organization know about my concerns:

I haven't looked at this petition specifically [ed- I have since writing this email], but based on what you have said, I would be very surprised if the organizers are doing ANYTHING more than counting the total number of people signing -- with or without comments -- and reporting that as the total number of signatures on the petition.  At most I would expect the organizers to troll through the posted comments looking for one or two they could use for publicity purposes. 

I would urge you to carefully consider what people are "signing" when they leave comments, even positive ones, in light of how the organizers are likely to construe the results.

I got a response back that didn't reassure me much; not that the motives were questionable but there seemed to be a lot of room for a miscommunication or just not thinking through the appropriate response.  Surely another petition could be set up that is explicitly positive, so that the signature counts for and against could be compared directly?

I wasn't going to post anything about it since I raised my concerns directly, but I saw the post on Keyboard and a .45 on the same alert, and figured maybe a little damage control was necessary.

UPDATE: David Codrea has his own post on the issue, and suggests keeping a printout of the positive comments.  That could work.  I still think it's a risky tactic, but I have been informed that the people involved are on top of the issue.   IF YOU WANT TO SIGN THE PETITION AS A PRO-GUN VOICE YOU MUST LEAVE A COMMENT SUPPORTING THE RANGE.

When it comes to making wise investments, all thinking men and women should ask themselves (or their stock broker): "What are the benefits of this investment?" The following 15 statements represent just a few of the many "benefits" that can be found in the shooting sports.

In 1998, the new Canadian gun-control legislation started coming into force. The term "force" is not a figure of style. Since January 2001, hundreds of thousands of Canadians have become paper criminals because they did not get the renewable and revocable gun license required to own even hunting shotguns. Since January 1, 2003, hundreds of thousands more, perhaps millions, have been criminalized because they neglected, or refused, to take the steps to register all their guns. A few resisters have already been arrested.

Some people suggest the threat of terrorism is a reason to restrict further access to firearms. In his upcoming release, National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre makes the case that the war on terror makes it more important than ever for law-abiding Americans to arm themselves.

Federal gun prosecutions have jumped 45 percent under Attorney General John Ashcroft, but criminal filings in environment, civil rights, government regulation and organized crime cases have dropped, an analysis of federal records shows. Not surprisingly, the sharpest increase in any federal prosecutions since Ashcroft took over the Justice Department came in terrorism and internal security cases, a 15-fold jump to 1,208, nearly all of it coming after the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks.Remember when we thought this guy would be on our side?

Police across the country, in many cases acting merely on a "whim" or "bad feeling," have been flagging citizens and entering their personal information into a firearms databank even though they are not under investigation or charged with a crime. In other cases, people -- including some with a history of violence -- who should have been flagged by police, were not. Two years ago, Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski told the Justice Department to resolve the system's "serious problem," but they still haven't bothered.Yet another reason why firearms registration is a bad thing.

A Queen Creek munitions stash that federal agents touted Thursday as a potent military arsenal is nothing but a big dud, according to a defense attorney in the case and several experts on military firepower. "That's not a cache of weapons," said Louis Aloise, a Boston attorney representing suspect Scott Segal. "It's a gun collection. The vast majority are not even functional."

From further down in the article, "no criminal charges have been filed". So what exactly are these inoperable weapons being seized for?

SINCE THE 1930S, police investigators have studied bullets to find key evidence. At a crime scene, investigators would retrieve any bullets and cartridge cases, and take them to police labs. There, firearms examiners would place the bullets and cartridge cases under a special microscope to compare the marks left by the firing gun on each. They would take snapshots and distribute them to local police departments. When police recovered a gun, they could discharge it to compare the markings left on bullets and casings against those in that collection of snapshots.

Residents of at least two states could face a tougher time defending themselves with a handgun, as a result of new laws enacted by their legislators that just took effect.

Maryland on Wednesday became the first state in the nation to require that only new handguns with internal trigger locks could be sold in the state. Only six handguns meet the law's standards, and those firearms are relatively expensive, compared to weapons commonly purchased by civilians for self-defense.

What, exactly, do they expect this to solve?

Injuries from gunshots result in $802 million a year in hospital charges nationwide, with nearly a third of victims uninsured, a new study indicates.

The study by Dr. Jeff Coben, director of Allegheny General Hospital's Center for Violence and Injury Control, and Dr. Claudia Steiner of the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, was published Wednesday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

They analyzed injuries from 1997, the most recent year with complete data.

Rumors circulating among gun-rights advocates that a new law requires reloading hobbyists and firearms owners to obtain a license before they can buy gunpowder or ammunition are false, experts and officials say.

"Rest assured, this law does not require a license for buyers of reloading components," said the alert. "In fact, existing federal explosive laws and regulations make exceptions for black and smokeless powders, and the new law did not amend those exceptions."

President Bush will sign legislation today that allows airline pilots to carry guns in cockpits, but it will be months before any take their weapons aboard.

And when they do, it's likely that fewer than half of the roughly 75,000 pilots will choose or qualify to take the controversial step of arming themselves.

Fewer than half is a hell of a lot better than none at all.

U.S. Representative Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) teamed with Representatives Rick Boucher (D-Va.), Melissa Hart (R-Penn.), and Chris John (D-La.) to introduce reckless lawsuit preemption legislation, H.R. 1036, in the House last week. The bill was submitted on February 27 with 243 original cosponsorsıan impressive debut that easily exceeds a simple majority of U.S. Representatives. The billıs strong, bipartisan support (45 Democrats signed on as cosponsors) has sent a chilling message to the gun-ban lobby: Congress is poised to put an end to the Brady Campaignıs (a.k.a., HCIıs) shameless efforts to bankrupt the firearms industry through the tactic of filing, funding, or otherwise promoting dozens of predatory lawsuitsısuits embraced and supported by anti-gun big-city mayors that seek to advance the absurd notion that the law-abiding firearms industry should be held responsible for the actions of violent criminals.

Some people suggest the threat of terrorism is a reason to restrict further access to firearms. In his upcoming release, National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre makes the case that the war on terror makes it more important than ever for law-abiding Americans to arm themselves.

Pretoria inventor Nic van Zyl has developed what may be the world?s first "intelligent firearm", a handgun that can be operated only by its rightful owner. It could make criminal abuse of firearms a thing of the past It looks like a cross between a sci-fi raygun and an industrial high-pressure cleaning device. Bulky and block-like, it displays none of the black-metal menace inherent in most civilian firearms, and frankly, it is not a thing of beauty.

Somehow, I don't expect that this guy has conquered the reliability problems that are really critical. Or, in other words, it's easy to make a gun that doesn't work, it's making it work when required, every time, that's tricky.

The Fifty Caliber Institute brings us another opportunity to make a difference, by supporting a long-distance rifle range in Pennsylvania.  If we are to remain a nation of riflemen, we need a nation full of shooting ranges! 

In order to obtain funding from the municipal government, the man behind this effort needs to be able to show community support.  And that means he needs email from you if you are a long-range shooter or aspire to become one.  His email address is grim@pennswoods.net.  Send email saying you support the development of a long-distance rifle range in Clearfield, PA.  It would probably also help to mention where you're from, and whether you would be using the range regularly.  The plan is to put up a motel nearby, to support people traveling long distances to use the range.

Wadcutter brings us instructions for creating a LED light from some of your fired brass.  He suggests using it to inspect your barrel.  I think it would be much more effective as a burglary deterrent.  None of that pansy-ass laser beam shit that you can't even see unless there's a lot of dust in the air.  When you look into the business end of a .357 loaded with this ammunition, you are looking into the business end of Hell.

The best part is, if you pick the right revolver, a single trigger pull would advance the cylinder to fire a live round.  (Not recommended for semiautomatics).

An effort is under way to establish a firm schedule for updating the state's roster of approved firearms, a move that would reduce the time it takes for some handguns to get from manufacturers to buyers.

Just this week seven weapons were added to the roster, including three made by Smith & Wesson in Springfield, bringing the total number of firearms on the list to 379.

The roster was created by the Gun Control Act enacted in 1998, and weapons on the list are approved by the secretary of public safety after testing at a state-approved laboratory. The seven-member Gun Control Advisory Board recommends to the secretary which weapons should be added to the roster.

This is Maryland, where the state must approve every new firearm before it can be sold. This is what happens when you let "safety" drive firearms legislation -- a form of safety that protects no one, just impose more beaurocratic barriers.

A National Rifle Association (NRA)-backed amendment inserted by Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) at the last minute into fiscal year 2004 appropriations legislation for the Commerce, Justice and State Departments would dramatically increase the number of "kitchen-table" gun dealers across America, the Violence Policy Center (VPC) charged today. The surprise amendment, adopted last week by the House Appropriations Committee by a vote of 31 to 30, would require the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to issue Federal Firearms Licenses (FFLs) to "kitchen-table" gun dealers, applicants who do not actually run stocking gun stores, but instead operate out of homes and offices.

Or, in other words, people who want to run a business but can't afford a store just yet, or operate at gun shows or similar forums. Remember, everyone who gets a dealer's license is still required to do a background check -- whether they sell from a store, from a gun show, or anywhere else. More licensed dealers means more people running background checks.

Congressman Rick Renzi (R-AZ) is about to introduce legislation which would force BATF to allow licensed firearms dealers to conduct face-to-face firearms sales nationwide.

In recent years, the BATF's overzealous enforcement has prohibited licensed firearms dealers from different states from consummating face-to-face handgun transfers.

This is despite the fact that, even from BATF's point of view, a face-to-face sale and transfer of a firearm by two dealers who have been licensed by the government would seem to be much safer than forcing the firearms to be shipped through dozens of unlicensed hands.

Two weeks from now, when competitors line up in Buffalo for the Empire State Games, New York shooters will also be toeing up to the line. The shooting sports have been part of the games every year since they began a quarter century ago, but this year just being allowed in is a victory, of sorts, for gun-carrying athletes. On Valentine's Day, as I reported last month, officials abruptly announced plans to save $200,000 by scrapping shooting and three other sports, ostensibly for budget reasons and because these sports didn't draw enough competitors or spectators.

The cost of being a law-abiding gun owner has just gone up. Tacked onto the state's final fiscal 2004 budget was a 300 percent hike in the cost of obtaining a firearms identification card: It will now cost $100, no longer $25. The same fee hike applies to licenses to carry firearms.

The United States government is denying the request of law-abiding citizens to buy back military surplus M14s citing international agreements that would make such a program, "problematic." We can only presume that the referred agreement was made during the United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects in July 2001. As referenced in a follow up article on NewsMax, "Members also agreed to place special emphasis on post-conflict situations, to destroy illicit or surplus weapons as necessary, and to act responsibly in export, import, transit and retransfer of weapons." Also suggested at the conference was, "'voluntary' collection of small arms and the confiscation of "illegal" weapons."

A petition drive is underway to convince lawmakers to "civilianize" hundreds of thousands of M-14 military battle rifles so they can be legally sold by the government to the general public as a way to pay for the Iraq war. According to the online petition, "there is a strong demand for an M-14 DCM [Director of Civilian Marksmanship] program, which will curb government waste by providing up to $300-600 million [for] deficit reduction."