No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 268.1.0/269 - Release Date: 2/24/2006 Poll - Gun Ban For L.A. County?: The Los Angeles CBS station is asking if you support a "gun ban" for L.A. County. (Never mind that the state has pre-empted the regulation of deadly weapons and that such a ban, like San Francisco's, would be illegal.) http://www.cbs2.com/ --- New Rifle Ammunition: A Danish firm is marketing a GPS microchip that is implanted by being fired from a sniper rifle. It is intended to be used by law enforcement to track suspects. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20060222&articleId=2034 --- From John Farnam: 24 Feb 06 Ammunition info from a friend in SA: "My students were all shooting Glocks. Ammunition was factory-reloaded 9mm, made by a local, domestic manufacturer. Bullets are not 'jacketed,' but rather are 'copper washed.' The copper layer is extremely thin. They use a Berdan primer that is sealed in place via blue paint. Power charge is wimpy, and it barely cycles the pistols. Yes, I know it is trash, by your standards, but it is all we can get here. By day two, stoppages were rampant. When we pulled the Glocks apart, we found the insides coated with dirty, copper residue. Accumulations were so think, it looked like someone had squirted copper-based lubricant into the pistols. Blue primer sealant had also transferred onto the guns. Breach faces were all solid 'blue.' With constant cleaning, we could keep guns running, but excessive maintenance, of course, cuts into training time. Amazingly, this is the best ammunition we're been able to use for some time. Up until now, we've only had lead reloads, which are even worse!" Comment: Copper-washed bullets are bad news! They are little better than lead straight-bullets. Well-made, authoritative, clean ammunition, with jacketed bullets saves valuable training time. Wasted time and ruined guns is a severe penalty for saving a paltry few bucks on ammunition. I know good ammunition is expensive, but time is even more expensive. We don't know how good we have it here! /John (I don't know if there is a difference between "copper washed" and "copper plated" but it's worth noting that Speer's Gold Dot bullets are made with a copper-plating process and, to my knowledge, have never had any reliability issues stemming from that.) 25 Feb 06 I am here in Memphis, TN at Tom Given's wonderful, annual POLITE SOCIETY event. I shoot the course tomorrow, but there are classes on retention and disarms, as well as Airsoft exercises, into all of which I will fully immerse myself tomorrow. Today, I attended lectures. The first was mine, where I attempted to tie together the Fetterman Massacre (1866, near Sheridan, WY), the Little Big Horn Battle (1876), Isandhlwana (1879, South Africa) and Balangiga (Island of Samar, Philippines, 1901), suggesting that the real culprits, in all four disasters, were character flaws: arrogance and personal vanity. Skip Gochenour talked with us about cases of self-defense in which he has been personally involved. Some important points: "True" vindicators, like the ever-popular SODDI ("Some Other Dude Did it") or the TODDI ("That Other Dude Did it") defense are seldom involved, as facts are usually not in dispute. Once you suggest that you shot someone by accident, thereafter "justification" will be unavailable to you, as you've already admitted justification is irrelevant. In fact, once you're charged with a crime, the first casualty is the truth. Truth becomes irrelevant. Prosecutors care only about convictions. Thus, anything you can do to delay the decision to charge you is usually in your best interest. The truth will usually not set you free, but a lie will definitely lock you up! "Mandatory Retreat" laws are designed to punish all who would take a stand, or "sustain engagement." Fortunately, public sentiment and policy is currently going the other way on this issue, in most states. Character witnesses are important. Be a good person, so you'll always have plenty! Home invaders are particularly dangerous. Don't let them get control. Especially, don't let them tie you up. The time to take a stand is when you still have options. What is sometimes incorrectly labeled as "excessive force" is often simply "excessively repeated applications of less-than-adequate force." Force, when applied, must be designed and intended to end the fight quickly with a single application, or there is no point. John Hearn presented his excellent synopsis of the famous Newhall Shooting that took place in California in 1970. Four CA State Troopers were murdered in the same event, all within a few minutes. Many tactical errors were identified, but the real point is that neither the four officers involved, nor the entire CHP for that matter, were in any way prepared for a serious fight. They learned the hard way! Claude Werner, who teaches with Bill Rogers, reminded us that John Boyd's OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) Loop has been replaced in many government agencies, and even some military circles, with the TWIIBAR (Think Wishfully, Ignore Intelligence, Blunder Ahead, Repeat) Loop! We were also reminded that, with individual gun maintenance, use more solvent, less oil. Many light primer hits with the M9, and other pistols, are directly traceable to firing-pin channels clogged with oily, greasy, grit. Firing-pin channels need to be clean and dry! More tomorrow! /John -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .