Shameless Commercial Plug: List members may wish to consider copies of my book as gifts for friends and relatives this holiday season. http://www.spw-duf.info/book.html --- Three Years of CCW in Kansas: For almost three years, Kansans have been able to carry concealed handguns if they obtain the required license. So far, there have been no major incidents or widespread controversies involving the concealed-carry law, said Phil Journey, the former state senator and firearms advocate from Haysville who helped concealed carry become law. The head of the Kansas police chiefs association agrees with Journey. At the same time, far fewer people than expected have obtained concealed-carry licenses... Another prediction that hasn't come true is the number of concealed-carry licenses. In the spring of 2006, Journey said he expected about 48,000 Kansans, or 2 percent of the population, would obtain concealed-firearm licenses in the first four years. In the first three years, about 23,000 people have gotten licenses, according to state records. "A lot of people wanted the option (of carrying a concealed weapon), but they probably decided not to do it," Journey said. The cost of obtaining a license - including a $150 application fee and a roughly $100 training course charge - "are prohibitive for a lot of people," Journey said. He expects an effort during the upcoming legislative session to lower fees... (Granted that Arizona offers the option of unlicensed open carry but the application rate for CWP's here doubled when the training mandate dropped from 16 to eight hours.) http://www.kansas.com/196/story/1072955.html?storylink=omni_popular --- Today's the Day, in South Carolina: Handguns, rifles and shotguns will be cheaper on Friday and Saturday because the Legislature has designated those days as a tax-free "Second Amendment Weekend." Neil Schachte, owner of Carolina Rod & Gun, said Wednesday that he expected a sharp uptick in business for the tax-free days. During that time, the store will not charge 7.5 percent in state and local sales taxes, he said... South Carolina had the nation's first tax holiday on guns last year after legislators tacked it on to a tax break on energy-efficient appliances. The state Supreme Court threw out that law in May because of an unrelated energy amendment. Lawmakers restored the gun tax break as a one-time event in the budget this year... The 7.5 percent sales tax still applies to ammunition during Second Amendment Weekend. South Carolina is the only state in the nation that has a tax-free weekend for both handguns and hunting guns. Louisiana has a tax-free weekend for hunting guns. Scott Hornsby, Carolina Rod & Gun manager, said he expected that the two tax-free days would amount to 25 percent of the store's business for the month. Hornsby expected the store would sell about 70 firearms Friday and Saturday. On a busy day when the sales tax is in effect, it might sell up to 15 guns, he said... http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/nov/26/store-expects-booming-business/ http://www.indexjournal.com/articles/2009/11/26/news/b1127%20guns.txt --- Oops, Wrong Apartment: Authorities say a home invasion in Berlin [NH] has left one intruder fatally shot and another critically injured. The state attorney general's office says three men, at least 2 of them with handguns, entered an apartment about 8 p.m. Wednesday. Authorities say a man and woman inside were assaulted during a robbery attempt. The man managed to get his own gun, and several shots were fired. Killed at the scene was 23-year-old Nathaniel Stringfield of Berlin, 1 of the intruders. Another was found injured a short distance away. He's been hospitalized in critical condition at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The attorney general's office says the third man had not been apprehended Thursday. No one has been arrested. The couple suffered minor injuries. http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=11578039 --- Firing Pins Reviewed: There are just too many designs of firing pins for them all to be listed and illustrated here, so we'll just look at the types you'll likely to run into. What virtually everybody knows is that a firing pin is the object that hits a primer to set it off. However, firing pins that have the sear notch built into them, like the P-08 Parabellum and many of the smaller automatics, are properly called strikers. (This term is really unimportant when discussing problems, but might make a difference in the impression you give one who knows the difference)... http://www.gunreports.com/special_reports/accessories/firing-pins-Strikers-Transfer-Bar-Hammer-Block-Cam-up-Nosepins1677-1.html?ET=gunreports:e577:183810a:&st=email --- Tuff Quick Strips Offer Options: ...For many years, Bianchi produced the Speed Strip. Available only for the .38 revolver size cartridge case, it consisted of a spring steel stiffener overmolded with black, soft rubber that had six cutouts to hold the heads of .38 or .357 rounds. It became a popular accessory, permitting one to carry five or six rounds securely in a pocket. When needed, you could pull it out and load two chambers at a time by inserting the bullets and twisting the Speed Strip away... If QuickStrip isn't available in your caliber, check out the head dimensions, specifically the rim diameter, for your round. These are easily found in a number of resources, including Cartridges of the World and The Ammo Encyclopedia. For example, the .416 Rigby, which is listed as a crossover by QuickStrip for the .500 Linebaugh strips, has a rim diameter of .5902?. The .45-70 Government, which is chambered in my American Derringer M-4 Alaskan, has a rim diameter of .608?, and will carry in the QuickStrip. Indeed, by trial and error I discovered that the 7.62 x 39 mm rifle cartridge will fit into the .41 Magnum strip comfortably, providing a way to carry a few extras round when using one of the bolt action 7.62 x 39 rifles. Tuff Products have resurrected a valuable tool from days gone by, improved its construction, and considerably fleshed out its versatility. The QuickStrips are a handy tool to carry revolver reloads when not in a uniform, provide a manner to safely and quietly segregate and carry rifle rounds, and permit one to quietly and conveniently carry a few rounds of specialty ammunition for the duty gun. http://www.lawofficer.com/news-and-articles/columns/Laska/reload_strips.html http://www.tuffproducts.com/home.php?cat=265 http://www.tuffproducts.com/home.php?cat=265&sort=orderby&sort_direction=0&page=2 --- Another Plug for the New Movie: ...Not Without a Fight is the story of one young man's journey to understand what the Second Amendment means. By his own admission, he was rather blasé about guns and gun control issues. Immigrating from Honduras appears to have given Max an objectivity and inquisitiveness that led him down the same path that I took nearly 10 years ago: After separating rhetoric from reality, what can a reasoning person conclude? His journey ended up being chronicled in Not Without a Fight, though the focus remains on the subject matter... http://www.examiner.com/x-2879-Austin-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m11d26-Spellbinding-proSecond-Amendment-film -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. The tactics and skills to use a firearm in self-defense don't come naturally with the right to keep and bear arms. http://www.spw-duf.info .