Creative Thinking: The attorney for a former Arizona State University football player is seeking to have the first-degree murder charges against his client reduced. The defective-gun theory loses credibility if Wade had already had an accidental discharge with the pistol earlier that same evening. (As I understand Arizona law, if an intentional killing results when adequate provocation by the victim results in heat of passion or sudden fight, the offense of second-degree murder drops to manslaughter.) http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0826wade-ON.html --- Fight The San Francisco Handgun Ban: Recruits are sought to write letters to editors when they publish material in support of San Francisco's latest firearm-ban scheme. http://www.gunfacts.info/sfban/letters.html --- Fom VCDL: In the NRA's Cam Edward's interview of the CNSnews.com reporter, a new allegation came out: the BATFE had planted hidden cameras at the last few Richmond gun shows and lied to the building owners saying that the BATFE had permission to do so from the gun shown owner, Annette Gelles! Smile, you're on candid camera. :frown: Trouble is that it was illegal since things like filming are controlled by gun show management. Annette learned by accident, when a similar attempt in NoVA was brought to her attention by building management. In that case BATFE was sent packing. I am getting tired of shaking my head at the shameful actions of BATFE. Roy B. Scherer has been going after information from Richmond and the VA State Police. Richmond Police officer Major McCoy acknowledged Richmond having 8 officers at the show, but didn't mention the patrol officers who were dispatched to people's houses. VASP representative Corrine Geller acknowledged the task force, but said that the State Police did not go knocking on doors. We still haven't heard from Henrico, who also had their hands in this mess. Member Hank Moody asked that I share information to those who might like to help Annette cover her legal fees in the fight against BATFE. If you are so inclined, here is her contact info: Annette Gelles Showmasters P.O. Box 10277, Blacksburg VA 24062 Many of you have already contacted Senators Allen and Warner and your local representative. Member Mike Wright said that Virgil Goode's office is investigating. IT'S NOW TIME FOR US TO ACT We need to contact Senator Allen, Senator Warner, and your local Congressman. Simply go to the VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org And at the bottom of the right-most column and in the section labeled 'Write to Congress,' type in your ZIP code and click "GO" You will then be at the NRA email system for the Federal Government with contact info for Senators Allen and Warner and your Representative. Suggested email/message: Dear [Senator/Representative], At a Richmond gun show in on August 13th and 14th the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) stepped way over the line by actually sharing National Instant Check System (NICS) information with local police, who then dispatched officers to the houses of people who were in the act of purchasing guns at the show! Family members were asked questions like, "Did you know your husband was buying a gun today?" "How many guns does your husband have?" Worse, if no one was at home, neighbors were contacted about the purchase! Other law-abiding citizens who attended the show were harassed by the BATFE and then let go since those citizens had done nothing wrong. The police presence at the show was so overwhelming as to be intimidating to both lawful customers and dealers. More information on these BATFE abuses can be found in the CNSnews.org article that first broke the story: http://tinyurl.com/7f9cv I urge you to demand an explanation from BATFE about this operation and have a Congressional hearing on the matter since it appears that Federal privacy and gun laws were broken. We are a nation of laws in which the ends does not necessarily justify the means. The rights and freedoms of the good people of this Country are sacred. Perhaps the time has come to ask if the 'F' in 'BATFE" should be removed. Please let me know what you are going to do about this abuse of power by the BATFE. Sincerely, HOME-DEFENSE INCIDENT - CASE STUDY: The following incident was shared by a member of the e-mail list, so that others could learn from his experience. Last night, I awoke for no reason I could remember, but something felt wrong. From my bed, I can look through the bedroom door (left open a crack) and see the front door. When I looked, I saw that the front door to my house was standing wide open and the streetlight outside was illuminating the door and the wall inside. I saw someone walk inside, and put on my glasses to make sure I wasn't just seeing things. With my glasses on, I saw the person walk out through the door again. I grabbed my .40 Browning Hi-Power, handed my wife her pistol and woke her up. I told her there was someone in the house. I tried to find my cell phone, but there was so much clutter on the nightstand it took me several seconds. I tried to find a pair of boxers, but that also took several seconds because I had left all my clothes in a pile by the bed. My wife and I went into the bedroom closet and I called 911. I told the operator that there was someone in my house, and that I had a gun. She told me that police were on the way. The police were there somewhere between 5 and 8 minutes after I called, but by the time they arrived the front door was closed and locked. I had to go let them in. There was nothing missing, and there were no signs of forced entry. Because we recently moved into that house, what I think happened is this: the previous tenants had given a key to a friend, who didn't know they moved out. He showed up (at 5:30 AM) and realized he was at the wrong house, and left, locking the door behind him. It is within the realm of possibility that I was dreaming, but I am absolutely positive I saw the front door standing open and someone walk inside. I learned a few things during that time. One thing is that I need to clean off my night stand. It took way too long to get my cell phone. You need to keep your night stand clear of clutter, with only the things you need on it - your gun, your phone, your alarm clock, and not much else. Second is that if you sleep in the nude, and are not comfortable confronting a nighttime intruder in the nude, you need to keep the floor near your bed clear so that you can find your "emergency pants." Third is that for all the discussion I hear about having a shotgun or carbine for home defense, I'm glad I had my pistol because my other hand was occupied by the phone. If I had a rifle or shotgun, and no pistol, I would have definitely felt more vulnerable. If you keep a long gun for home defense, you also need a handgun you can use while on the phone. There was both a shotgun and rifle available for my wife to use, since she had both hands free, but she kept her pistol too because of the close quarters. Lastly, when you move into a new apartment/house, have the locks changed. I'm calling my landlord immediately to inform him of the situation and have the locks changed. You don't know how freely the previous tenants gave away house keys. Comments: * Have a plan. That plan is usually based on a "safe room," in most cases the bedroom where the primary defender sleeps. * The primary defender should not be the one who talks on the phone - that is the role of the secondary defender, in this case the wife. The reason that people are more likely to get into vehicular accidents while talking on cell phones is distraction, not because only one hand is available to steer. * A long gun, if used, is normally assigned to the secondary defender, who remains in place, behind cover, in the safe room. The primary defender may have to round up children from other bedrooms and is best armed with a one-hand gun for this task. The plan should include having the long gun supported by cover, covering what is ideally the only entrance to the safe room. This arrangement should allow the secondary defender to remain on the phone. * Consider having all or most emergency equipment in an emergency garment, such as pants with a belt and holster, or some sort of vest. Consider a ballistic vest. Personally, I place higher priority on covering my major vital organs with Kevlar than on covering my genitals with cotton. Consider electronic ear muffs, which may enhance or at least maintain your hearing until the moment your ears need protection from gunfire. * In my opinion, the list member was at highest risk when he walked to the door to open it for the police. He assumed that there had only been one intruder, who had left. What if the intruder he saw leave was only going to a vehicle to get duct tape, to bind the residents for whatever fun the intruders may have had in mind, while his partner(s) remained in the house? * Cyalume light sticks are very useful. They can be tossed around corners and into doorways of darkened rooms. I prefer red, to minimize loss of my own night vision. A house key and a floor plan of the house (in a zip-lock bag) can be attached to one, to toss out a window for police, once the dispatcher advises that they have arrived on scene. This beats having them break down the door to gain entry. Hiding in a closet denies you access to windows, to toss out the light stick with the keys and floor plan. * Not only is there a risk from hidden intruders if you walk to the door to open it for police, there is also a risk of getting shot by the police if you do so with gun in hand. Several years ago a homeowner in Torrance CA was fatally shot by officers when he walked down the stairs, gun in hand, to greet them after they had made entry. * There is more, which I cover in my CWP courses, but space is limited. From John Farnam: 22 Aug 05 Text messaging: Within minutes of the recent terrorist bombings in London, the UK's entire cell phone network became hopelessly overloaded and went into meltdown. For several hours afterward, cell phones throughout the country were all but useless. We can expect something similar with the next disaster, there and here. Fortunately, cell-phone TEXT MESSAGING was not nearly so intensely affected. Most text messages went through, even during the height of confusion. Text messages use a different part of the RF spectrum than voice, take only an instant to transmit and therefore are less likely to be interrupted, and, unlike voice, can be stored in the system and delivered seconds or minutes later. All of us need to become familiar with text messaging, so that during the next crisis we'll still be able to communicate effectively. Text messaging is becoming a critically important skill. Highly recommended! /John (I'm not sure whether you can use text messaging to communicate with emergency services or only with friends and relatives - worth checking before making any additional investment.) 22 Aug 05 Reduced-capacity Magazines: At a Defensive Handgun Course last weekend in MI, a student brought a G19, which, of course, worked fine, except when it occasionally stopped feeding reliably. I examined his pistol and magazines. Magazines were a mixture of normal-capacity and "reduced-capacity." The G19 ran fine with standard, normal-capacity magazines. All feeding difficulties were associated with the use of two, reduced-capacity magazines that were in the mix. I suggested to the student that he deposit the two, aforementioned magazines into the nearest garbage can! He did, and feeding problems, along with all other functional difficulties, promptly and permanently disappeared! Like all pistol manufacturers, Glock was compelled to produce reduced-capacity magazines after the passage of the 1994 "Crime" Bill, another unhappy legacy of the Clinton Administration and yet another illustration of the contempt in which Congress holds American citizens. Of course, the smart among us shunned these new "Clinton Clips," as they were dubbed, and found ways to continue to use magazines for which affected pistols were originally designed. But, many reduced-capacity magazines made their way into normal commerce and into the hands of unsophisticated gun owners. With the merciful expiration of the Crime Bill last year, reduced-capacity magazines are, praise God, now just a painful memory! My advice to all who own them is to get rid of them and replace them with normal-capacity magazines, the magazines for which the pistol was, from the beginning, designed to be used. In my experience, no reduced-capacity magazine, from any manufacturer, is reliable. None have any business in a serious pistol. None are recommended. /John (I don't recall observing this phenomenon myself but agree with John that there's no longer any reason to use reduced-capacity magazines for serious purposes. On the other hand, if they are prone to induce malfunctions, they may play a limited role in training for malfunction clearance. I'd be reluctant to throw them away, preferring to carefully segregate them from "the real thing.") 24 Aug 05 YOU DON'T GET TO RELAX! At our courses, I constantly remind students to keep their guns loaded. To this end, I admonish them to reload when they want to (so as not to be compelled to reload at an inconvenient moment, when they have no choice) and to perform chamber checks if there is the slightest doubt about whether there is a round chambered or not. I also caution them to keep their heads up and articulated in all directions, so that no threat will get close without being noticed well in advance. In our Advanced Courses, many shooting exercises are actually started with students facing uprange, away from the target. Students are taught that pistols are carried as a way for us to effectively deal with UNEXPECTED threats. That being the case, we must be alert and fully prepared to fight, all the time, as we don't get to know when an otherwise unforeseen threat may abruptly rear its ugly head. At some point, a student will ask, "When do I get to relax?" The answer is always immediate and to the point, "You don't!" To ask when one may relax is tantamount to asking when he may turn responsibility for his safety over to someone else. If we emphasize anything in our courses it is that you are ALWAYS on your own. At no time will any other person or entity care about you more than you care about yourself. Taking complete responsibility for your own safety lies at the core of the Warrior Ethos. If you do not accept personal responsibility for your own physical well being, how can you take personal responsibility for anything? In the fantasy world manufactured for public consumption by institutions (for their benefit, not yours), we are encouraged to believe that "Someone is looking out for me." No they're not! They're looking out for themselves. We can never allow ourselves to believe smooth lies about our safety being someone else's concern. Life is meant to be a daring adventure. It was never meant to be relaxing! /John 25 Aug 05 Insurance Story: A friend recently had several of his guns burn up in a storage facility fire. They were all undocumented and purposely weren't declared on his homeowner's/renter's policy. At first, he considered them a flat loss. Then, he remembered the Armscare policy that inures to NRA membership. He applied for compensation, documented with a notarized letter from a friend, who described the pieces and when he had seen them. Several weeks later, back came a check for $1,000.00, the policy maximum! My friend, who, like me, detests insurance companies and their employees (for good reason) reports that he was treated well. Of course, one thousand dollars in today's economy isn't much, but the annual premium is part of NRA membership, so inconsequential as to be virtually free. An incident like this is a good reminder for us all to document our valuables. With digital technology, one may have detailed images of everything of value he owns, compacted and stored safely, in several places. With the removal of photo-processing middle men, it's as private as it needs to be. /John (Higher levels of Armscare insurance are available for NRA members who desire to purchase it.) 25 Aug 05 Comments from a friend on currently-available 1911s: "It's noteworthy that most custom makers of high-end 1911s are not actually producing competent, serious firearms. In the context of our 'Why can't I buy excellence?' conversation, I believe it is because those who command technical and manufacturing resources through which they may achieve true excellence are making icons, not practical tools. I don't need a 'pretty' gun, capable of pointless accuracy. I'm trying, unsuccessfully so far, to buy a reliable, durable, tough, practical, fighting pistol on the 1911 model. As I write this, Kimber comes the closest." Comment: Real fighting is an ugly, cheerless activity, far from the carefully choreographed sewage depicted on television. The only thing worse than serious fighting is unsuccessful fighting! My fighting/carry guns spend most of their miserable lives in a hard, ky-dex holster, in direct contact with my gritty, sweaty, and sometimes smelly body. I try to provide them with reasonable maintenance, but, in some places, diesel fuel is the only cleaner/lubricant available. Such an ugly, tormented, unforgiving existence calls for ugly, dependable, tough fighting implements. Pretty, temperamental, prima donnas, designed to spend their lives in humidity-controlled gun cabinets, need not apply! /John (I'm not a devotee of the 1911 and Teddy Jacobson, who is just one gunsmith, does not share John's friend's opinion of the Kimber. I would give more weight to John's comments, which I interpret as not necessarily endorsing the 1911 as the top choice for a modern pistol, than to those of his unnamed friend.) -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .