How Many Students Must Die...?: ... The NIU slaughter - which was, by the way, one of 45 shootings (five this week) since 1996 that have occurred on campuses in the United States in "gun free zones" - will not be the last. The mass murderers among us have taken quite the shinin' to shooting up our students at their schools. The principal reason is that it's so easy for them to carry out their death wishes because university officials will not allow good guys with guns to carry in class and be an onsite deterrent to death-dealing dillweeds. Hey, "all wise" college presidents and other admin wizards: Until you allow guns - real guns, guns that go bang and kill bad guys - you (to make it personal), your faculty and the students you're responsible for will continue to be sitting ducks, potential fleshy sponges to soak up the hot lead from some pathetic loser's happy trigger finger. The gun free stuff ain't working... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DougGiles/2008/02/16/college_presidents_how_many_students_have_to_die_before_you_allow_guns_on_your_campus?page=full&comments=true --- National-Park Carry Delaying Public Lands Bill: An election-year dispute over whether to allow loaded guns in national parks is holding up a vote on a massive bill affecting public lands from coast to coast. Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to score political points by injecting a "wedge" issue such as gun rights into a non-controversial bill. Republicans counter that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to protect the two leading Democratic candidates for president by shielding them from a politically difficult vote on an issue that many rural voters consider crucial. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the leading GOP contender for president, is a co-sponsor of the amendment, which would allow gun owners to carry loaded, accessible firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges. http://www.azstarnet.com/news/225511 --- Gun Laws Author In Online Chat: Alan Korwin, author of "Gun Laws of America,'' will answer readers' questions in an online chat Monday at 6:30 p.m. With proposed Arizona legislation to allow concealed weapons on school campuses and yet another school shooting - Thursday at Northern Illinois University - the discussion is timely. At least a couple of dozen more bills are under consideration during the current legislative session, both to expand or restrict gun rights. Readers can add their questions now at azstarnet.com/ special/gunchat - or return Monday evening to join the hourlong, moderated conversation. http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/225548 --- Which Rules Were Violated?: ...At 9:40 a.m., Stephens, 38, of Delaware Water Gap, an instructor at the range for the past two years, was removing firearms from the overnight storage safe to take out onto the range. This is part of the daily routine of opening up for business. But this time, one of the guns, a 9 mm Uzi, went off in Stephens' face...This isn't the first time there has been a shooting accident at the range. In November 2000, Peter D'Elia, then 51, of Jersey City, N.J., was putting a hunting rifle into a carrying case when the rifle discharged. D'Elia's friend, Walter Bierdzycki, then 45, also of Jersey City, was shot in the stomach and later listed in critical condition at Lehigh Valley Hospital... http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080215/NEWS/802150332 --- From the Arizona State Rifle & Pistol Association: We have the opportunity to further protect BASF, the Ben Avery Shooting Facility. The voting has started for the next Phoenix Point of Pride. You may remember we had a campaign a couple years back for BASF. Every little bit helps. This year we support the: Pioneer Living History Museum It is located on the northern boundary of BASF. Please pass this on to folks. It just takes a few seconds. You can vote now at: http://www.phoenix.gov/pride2008 --- NRA-ILA Alerts: Alerts for this week are posted on the NRA-ILA website. http://www.nraila.org/GrassrootsAlerts/read.aspx --- From AzCDL: Information on these bills and other legislation that AzCDL is tracking can be found at: http://www.azcdl.org/html/legislation.html . SB 1070, an AzCDL requested bill that proposes changes to ARS 13-3112 regarding the process for obtaining a concealed weapons permit, was on the February 11, 2008 agenda for the Senate Judiciary Committee. It has been rescheduled for Monday, February 18, 2008. There will be an amendment offered clarifying the documentation needed to prove you "have ever" completed the required training (e.g., expired CCW permit, etc.). SB 1214, an AzCDL requested bill that allows adults with CCW permits to carry concealed firearms on school campuses, is still scheduled for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Monday, February 18, 2008. If you have not sent a letter - please do so now! The media is trying to give the impression that there is not a lot of public support for the bill, despite the reality of constituent contact running 3 to 1 in favor of it, from what we're being told. So let's show up in force and show our elected representatives that the media is wrong, as usual. If you need information about attending the hearing, drop a note to President@AzCDL.org. HB 2389, an AzCDL requested bill that removes the reference to vehicles in ARS 13-3102 (misconduct involving weapons), passed out of the House Judiciary Committee by a 6-4-0 vote. HB 2486, a bill adding "undocumented aliens" to the list of prohibited possessors, passed out of the House Judiciary Committee by a 9-0-1 vote. HB 2628, the bill that contains a number of provisions beneficial to CCW permit holders, has been held due to concerns over some of the language. We will attempt to work with the sponsor to work out the concerns and get the bill heard again. HB 2630, an AzCDL requested bill that reduces the penalty for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit to a petty offense (except in the commission of a crime), passed out of the House Judiciary Committee by a 6-4-0 vote. There are a number of bills being heard in House committees next week. These don't need a "cut-and-paste" onslaught, but we can't afford to be silent either. If we are silent on bills, "squishy" potential supporters might think it's OK to vote against them. When it doubt - send a letter out. Please take the time to send a polite note to the committee members about the bills listed below, and let them know that you want them to vote the supported bills out of committee with a recommendation for passage by the full House (except for HB 2464). Following the bills are the email address lists of the relevant committee members in both semi-colon and comma separated formats. Use the one that is compatible with your email software. Please be sure to include your name, address, and phone number in all correspondence. HB 2464, which adds Community Correctional Officers and Special Investigators to the list of law enforcement positions exempt from most weapons misconduct violations, will be heard in the House Public Institutions and Retirement Committee on Monday, February 18, 2008. AzCDL OPPOSES this bill because it exempts these individuals from violations regarding prohibited and defaced weapons. HB 2737 will be heard in the House Homeland Security and Property Rights committee on Monday, February 18, 2008. HB 2737 prohibits rental agreements from requiring tenants to "waive or forego the peaceful exercise of rights guaranteed under Article II, Constitution of Arizona." HB 2677, which prohibits the implementation of the REAL ID Act in Arizona, will be heard in the House Government Committee on Tuesday, February 19, 2008. HB 2629, an AzCDL requested bill that clarifies when a defensive display of a firearm is justified, will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, February 21, 2008. The U.S. Department of Justice has estimated that, nationwide, there are 1.5 million defensive uses of firearms each year (National Institute of Justice, NCJ 155476, May 1997). In about 75% of defensive firearm instances, a shot is never fired and the threat is dissuaded via a defensive display or warning (Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz, "Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun," Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 86(1):150-187, Fall 1995). Unfortunately, Arizona law effectively rules out the use of anything other than lethal force with a firearm for self-defense. Under current law, a defensive display can be categorized as "endangerment" (ARS 13-1201), "threatening and intimidation" (ARS 13-1202), "assault" (ARS 13-1203), or "aggravated assault" (ARS 13-1204). The proposed language clarifies when the defensive display of a firearm is justified and when it is not justified. Specifically it is not justified in the commission or attempted commission of a serious offense or violent crime, or when there is no lawful justification to display a firearm. The proposed language should reduce the necessity to use lethal force in self-defense situations while assuring that law-abiding citizens are not unfairly targeted for prosecution when attempting to diffuse a threatening situation with a non-lethal defensive display. HB 2634, an AzCDL requested bill that clarifies that a person with an expunged or set-aside felony conviction, or one who has had their rights restored, may obtain a concealed weapons permit, will also be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, February 21, 2008. Because the law has been silent in this area, DPS has refused to issue CCW permits. This bill has 13 co-sponsors, two of which who sit on the House Judiciary Committee: Rep. Steven Yarbrough (R-21) and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-15). HCR 2021 is a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution. If passed, a person (the good guy) is not generally liable for damages that a "plaintiff" (the bad guy) incurs while involved in a criminal act. HCR 2021 will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, February 21, 2008. HCR 2037, which would add a right to hunt and fish to the Arizona Constitution, will be heard in the House Natural Resources and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday, February 20, 2008. Below are the email addresses of the relevant committee members in both semi-colon and comma separation formats, along with a simple list of email addresses for those who encounter email address formatting problems. Use the list that is compatible with your email software. HOUSE GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE List of members' email addresses: kadams@azleg.gov jpaton@azleg.gov rbarnes@azleg.gov rcrandall@azleg.gov mdesimone@azleg.gov sfarley@azleg.gov mgarcia@azleg.gov wnichols@azleg.gov HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY AND PROPERTY RIGHTS COMMITTEE List of members' email addresses: dclark@azleg.gov rbarnes@azleg.gov nbarto@azleg.gov clcampbell@azleg.gov sgallardo@azleg.gov jpaton@azleg.gov tprezelski@azleg.gov ksinema@azleg.gov jpweiers@azleg.gov HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE List of members' email addresses: efarnsworth@azleg.gov adriggs@azleg.gov kadams@azleg.gov tchabin@azleg.gov sgallardo@azleg.gov rcrandall@azleg.gov bkonopnicki@azleg.gov ksinema@azleg.gov bmiranda@azleg.gov syarbrough@azleg.gov HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE List of members' email addresses: jpweiers@azleg.gov jburges@azleg.gov abiggs@azleg.gov jkavanagh@azleg.gov bmcquire@azleg.gov jnelson@azleg.gov lpancrazi@azleg.gov ksinema@azleg.gov tulmer@azleg.gov HOUSE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND RETIREMENT COMMITTEE List of members' email addresses: mcclure@azleg.gov scrump@azleg.gov dbradley@azleg.gov jburges@azleg.gov phershberger@azleg.gov jkavanagh@azleg.gov lpancrazi@azleg.gov jthrasher@azleg.gov atobin@azleg.gov nyoungwright@azleg.gov Stay tuned! As relevant legislation is introduced and progresses, we will keep you up to date via these Alerts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AZCDL_Alerts/ These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today! AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html Copyright © 2008 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved. --- Shared By A List Member: I just wanted to share a somewhat tangentially related story about preparedness during an emergency that really made me think. I'll leave it up to your discretion if you would like to share it with the list. Some good friends of ours recently had a fire that destroyed their home. It has caused me to re-evaluate my family's preparedness for any type of emergency. My friend was awake at 1am when he noticed smoke wafting into his 2nd floor bedroom. He immediately woke up his wife and small child in the room and got his in-laws from another room and they all ran downstairs to exit the house. The entire downstairs was filled with smoke. He headed toward the regularly used (but further away) side door and was confronted with a wall of flames - he froze. It took him some time to turn around and go out the front door, which would have been a more sensible exit in the first place. Everyone gathered on the screened-in porch and quickly realized they could not stay there - the entire house was burning and the porch wasn't safe. The family went to the car, in which my friend had accidentally left the keys that night when he arrived home. They waited 15 minutes for the fire department to arrive. Thankfully they had the shelter of the car - this was during a snow/rainstorm with temperatures in the 30s, and everyone was barefoot and in pajamas. The fire started in the basement and had consumed much of the house and filled it with smoke before it reached the second floor - my friends barely had time to make it out safely (which they thankfully all did). There were no smoke detectors in the home. During an NRA class a number of years ago the instructor told us to imagine our ideal gunfight - great weather/visibility conditions, superiority of position/cover/firepower, etc. Then he told us that if we needed to use our firearm in self defense that it would be in a situation that was very far from our ideal gunfight. I've striven to maintain that mindset in my training and carrying of a firearm, but I just realized the blind-spot I have in this area with regard to other emergencies. I've always thought I would be able to throw on some clothes/shoes and even grab a few essentials on my way out the door if we experienced a fire. How foolish of me! I hope that maybe sharing this story with the list will inspire more of us not to be overconfident in our visualization of our reactions to emergency situations. Things that I carefully noted in the story were the "muscle memory" of going to a side entrance when the front entrance would have made more sense, and then freezing up when your regular choice is unavailable. Having the expectation of no shelter and no protective clothing is something that I now plan to prepare for - putting extra clothing/keys/essentials in an outbuilding or vehicle in addition to a "go-bag". The 15 minute response from the fire department in a suburban town during a snow/rainstorm seems a good estimate - maybe even a speedier response than typical - to expect from local emergency services unless one lives very close to them. (If you fail to plan, plan to fail.) From John Farnam: 11 Feb 08 Accurate Snubby? Friend, Dave Lauek, at D&L Sports in Gillette, WY is making and installing retrofit sights for S&W J-Frame revolvers. I have a set on my 340PD. Dave personally sighted it in with DPX ammunition to be dead-nuts at seven meters, and it is! I tested it last weekend at a Pistol Course we conducted in Los Angeles. The sights are fixed, rugged and low-profile, but they render a wonderful, conventional sight picture. The pistol still fits perfectly in my Rusty Sherrick shoulder holster, but I can now find the front sight fast, and the pistol is more useable over a greater spectrum of ranges than before. Recommended for snubby revolvers! Call Dave at 307 686 4008. (I believe that this sight system is pictured on a Centennial revolver at http://www.dlsports.com/. Instructors and others have preferences based on their respective doctrines or dogmas. Those who believe that they will have the discipline to focus on their sights, even when taken by surprise at close range, will likely like this system. Those who accept the possibility that they may focus on the threat under those circumstances may feel better served by the Big Dot sight system [http://www.xssights.com/store/handgun.html], possibly at the expense of an inch or two of group size at seven yards. Those who are convinced that they will focus on the threat may wish to save the money that would be spent on new sights and use it for training or training ammunition. As my former teaching partner used to say, "It's your gunfight.") 13 Feb 08 After-market, recoil buffers Now and then, students bring 1911 pistols with after-market, recoil buffers, sometimes installed by a custom gunsmith, sometimes installed by the owner himself. We had such a custom 1911 in a Course in CA last weekend. The pistol was beautiful, but it gave us nothing but trouble! Normally, with bitter experience as my guide, I remove all such recoil buffers when I inspect guns at the start of the Course. However, this particular 1911 had a full-length ejector rod, and I calculated that getting rid of the buffer would be more trouble than it was worth. I told the student to shoot the pistol as it was. A mistake, as it turns out! Failures to feed and eject were rampant. The student waxed frustrated, to say the least! During the first break, I recanted, and the student and I conspired to remove the buffer. It was a pain in the ass getting it out, but, once we did, we were rewarded with a pistol that functioned normally! Feeding and ejection problems instantly disappeared, and the gun ran fine for the duration. The foregoing scenario is all too common. Rubber/plastic recoil buffers, usually consisting of a "doughnut" that fits over the recoil-spring guide-rod, prevent the slide from going all the way backwards, resulting in forward movement of the slide that is weak and ineffective. In addition, buffers often make it impossible to send the slide forward by pulling it all the way to the rear and subsequently releasing it, because the slide can't move far enough to the rear to cam down the slide lock lever. As if that weren't enough, buffers, in my experience, typically fall apart and break in half, usually within two hundred rounds. The halves then fall off the recoil rod, and the slide subsequently seizes completely, rendering the pistol useless! Recoil buffers are seen mostly on 1911 pistols, although they can be made for others. Per the foregoing, none are recommended on any serious pistol. As Kipling put it, "With all the pain and sorrow in store, why do we always arrange for more?" /John (As John points out, recoil buffers are most commonly seen in 1911's, where they are typically installed or recommended by people in the business of "accurizing" these pistols, often at the expense of reliability. Recall that the 1911 was adopted by the US Army not because it was the most accurate pistol available in .45 caliber but because it would continue to fire reliably when challenged with water, mud and sand. The Star PD, which resembled a 1911 and was, as I recall, the first successful mass-produced .45-caliber pistol smaller than the Colt Commander, came from the factory with a recoil buffer, which was part of its design. Users of this pistol, when it was still in production, were advised by those in the know to stock up on spare buffers because they usually only lasted for 500 rounds.) 15 Feb 08 Same circus, different clowns! At a news conference today in IL, NIU officials talked interminably about the campus shooting incident yesterday and spent virtually every available second of air time repeatedly justifying themselves and the wonderful "Emergency Plan" they had in effect. This is, of course, the "Plan" that saved no lives and had no effect on the outcome! NIU is, or course, yet another "Gun-Free Zone!" As is the usual case, police arrived on the scene as fast as humanly possible. The incident was long-since over, ending when the lone perpetrator fatally shot himself, after shooting a number of unarmed and defenseless university students and faculty in a campus auditorium. Police never confronted the VCA, never fired a shot. On network news, we were then treated to a parade of driveling "experts" who talked about the deceased perpetrator (that, of course, none of them had ever met) and predictably cited all the usual suspects: "He played violent video games," "He was a loner," "His mother didn't breast-feed him as a child," "His underwear were too tight," ad nauseam. The ultimate outcome is easy to predict: Campus officials will scurry about in an effort to appear as if they're actually accomplishing something. No one will lose their job. Nothing will change. And, a week from now, the campus will be functioning normally, as if nothing had happened. And, the next armed VCA will encounter no more difficulty than did the last one! Nothing is so difficult to see as the obvious, particularly when it flies in the face of Leftist dogma that dominates virtually all college campuses and that can never be questioned! More cameras, more reams of "plans," more "prayer-assemblies," and more hand-wringing will accomplish nothing, any more than the last layer did, save providing employment for a few more, erstwhile unemployed, bureaucrats. So long as Americans are taught, from birth, that "being a good and cooperative victim" is their ultimate civic duty, and that they must never even think of individual initiative or (Heaven forbid!) using force to defend themselves, we'll continue to be awash in victims, and all the "plans" in the world will avail us nothing Helpless, defenseless sheep will never derive effective protection from well-meaning, but clueless, "shepherds," who ultimately regard sheep as expendable anyway! Accordingly, as Americans, we must maintain our own personal, individual state of readiness, no matter where we are. This decision is yours, and your life depends on it! Risk attaches to maintaining a reasonable state of readiness, but, as we see from recent events, it pales in comparison to being unprepared. As this incident so poignantly illustrates, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. Be ready! /John (When seconds count, the police are minutes away.) 16 Feb 08 A Ray of Hope! This note from a large retailer in the Midwest: "I just negotiated the sale of fifty G19s to a local, private university. In light of recent events, this university's officials have decided to covertly arm their entire security staff, as well as a number of administrators and professors. As part of the deal, we'll also be providing concealment holsters, ammunition, accessories, and training, for these newly-armed academicians. As one might expect, this is all being done with extreme secrecy, as it constitutes an embarrassing admission by them that everything they've done up until now to insure campus safety has been a painfully obvious failure, all pseudo-rationalizing, excuse-making, and self-deception notwithstanding. They have finally admitted to themselves that they've been going in the wrong direction! This small group of weary and frustrated, but courageous, academicians have, at long-last, been compelled to confront the incontrovertible fact that there is only one way to effectively deal with VCAs, and that is to confront them, at the critical moment, with deadly force. There is no other viable alternative! We've opened the door at least a crack!" Comment: In our time, we have witnessed barbarous murders and mayhem in every place pandering politicians have naively assured us is "safe:" schools, federal buildings, military bases, churches, parks, restaurants, and our own homes. Naively declaring these places "Gun-Free Zones" has become a cruel joke! In UT and TX, legislation is moving forward that will officially permit qualified and licensed adults, including students and staff, to go armed on campus, as they do everywhere else. Legislation is also moving forward to officially allow licensed CCW holders to go armed in parks and other public property. Some of us, without apology and unwilling to wait on slow-motion politicians, go armed in all those places now! We are even so bold as to believe it is our civic and moral duty. /John -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .