Brady Bunch Chimes in on National-Park-Carry Decision: The Obama administration won't challenge a court ruling that prohibits visitors at some national parks to carry loaded concealed firearms, satisfying gun control groups. The Interior Department said in a court filing yesterday that it will uphold a U.S. District Judge's decision to reinstate 26-year-old restrictions on loaded guns in national parks and will conduct a full environmental review of a Bush administration regulation allowing the weapons. "We are pleased that loaded, concealed guns will continue to be prohibited in our national parks," said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, in a statement yesterday. "Semiautomatic weapons have no place in the valleys of Yellowstone, on the cliffs of Yosemite, or under the torch of the Statue of Liberty." ...The National Rifle Association filed a separate appeal of Kollar-Kotelly's judgment and several lawmakers who support gun owners' rights' have issued legislation to reinstate Bush's policy. (Hey, what about me - I carry revolvers?) http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aylETgvsDpbk&refer=us --- More on the 90% Lie: Reporting on President Obama's visit to Mexico, the Washington Post parrots both governments' line that 90% of guns confiscated from the drug lords originate in the U.S. They're all shooting blanks... Do the math and you find that only 17% of the guns confiscated were actually traced to the U.S. So why are so few guns sent here for tracing? Because, as Matt Allen, a special agent with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, points out, weapons known not to be of American origin are not sent to the U.S. for tracing. Duh... Many weapons have been legitimately shipped to Mexico from the U.S. as part of our effort to assist the Mexican military and police in the drug war. About 150,000 Mexican soldiers have deserted in the past six years, taking their weapons with them. A report in the London Daily Mail notes that many drug gangs employ ex-special forces soldiers recruited from the Mexican military. They are supported by corrupt police, with as many as 20% local law enforcement officers believed to be in the pay of drug gangs... http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=324863753845077 --- Head-Shot Failure: A Mississippi woman who was shot in the head not only survived but made herself tea and offered an astonished deputy something to drink, authorities said Friday. Tammy Sexton, 47, remained hospitalized three days after being wounded by her husband, who killed himself after he shot his wife. A bullet struck her squarely in the forehead, passed through her skull and exited through the back of her head, authorities said. She is expected to fully recover... A deputy was greeted by the woman when he arrived minutes after she was shot with the slug from a .380-caliber handgun... Byrd said the bullet apparently passed through the lobes of the woman's brain without causing major damage. She was rushed to a Mobile hospital by a helicopter... (It is not uncommon for bullets with rounded ogives to penetrate the scalp at the front, skid around the skull and exit the scalp in the rear. In this case there is a specific claim that the bullet passed between the hemispheres of the brain and exited, unusual penetration for a .380. A few months before I left California, in 1999, a Montclair PD officer shot herself in the head with a .45 ACP pistol in a training accident. The bullet went into the commissure, which joins the two hemispheres of the brain. At the time I received an unofficial account of the incident, she appeared on her way to making a fairly full recovery. The tactical use of head shots is discussed at http://www.spw-duf.info/emperor.html#head%20shots.) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090418/ap_on_fe_st/odd_head_shot_survivor;_ylt=As0sW..X_z7C7Kh7abAdHgh34T0D --- More Discussion of G22 Problems: Our team purchased new Glock 22's and x200 lights just over a year ago. Duty load is Fed 180 Hydro Shok, practice load varies between low bid 180 TMJ. The guns did not run. Failure was invariably a nose down in magazine. First call to Glock ended up with new extra coil springs installed in all the mags. Failures were reduced, but not eliminated. Second call to Glock came back with "Buy a Glock Light". Third call ended with the replacement of all the locking blocks. I never found out how the new blocks differed, but they did not cure the problem... (This forum thread was initiated 02-16-08 and currently runs through yesterday, with a discussion of the MPD article.) http://www.10-8forums.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=otherguns&Number=63496&page=0&fpart=1 --- This Sunday on America Armed & Free: Dennis Tueller, of the famous, "Tueller Drill," and the article "How Close is Too Close?" will join Charles Heller for the whole hour from one to two PM, MST, on AM 690 in Tucson, AM 930 in Douglas, and AM 1240 in Globe. For those not within those areas, America Armed & Free and the preceding Liberty Watch and Swap Shop are heard on the web via live stream at http://kvoi.com/listenlive.php and click "listen live," then select "Windows Media," or "Winamp." If you cannot listen live, the archive of those shows will be at www.libertywatchradio.com/listen , for 4 weeks after the broadcast. --- From AzCDL: It's been another week of inaction at the Legislature. Non-budget legislation has been at a virtual standstill. However HCR 2024, a resolution stipulating that the state of Arizona claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, managed to pass out of the House Committee of the Whole (COW) on April 14, 2009. The next step for HCR 2024 is the House Third Read before being transmitted to the Senate. HB 2439 passed out of the House Committee of the Whole (COW) back on March 26, 2009 and is also waiting to be scheduled for a formal vote in the House Third Read. HB 2439 is the AzCDL-requested CCW training reform bill. HB 2474 is waiting to be placed on the House COW calendar. HB 2474 prevents any private or public employer, property owner, etc. from banning any person from keeping a firearm in a locked vehicle in a parking area on the property, with specific, limited exceptions. HB 2177, a "strike-all" bill that now contains pro-rights language, is also still waiting to be placed on the House COW calendar. HB 2177 allows a person with a valid concealed weapons permit to possess, transport or carry a weapon within a game refuge. In the Senate, non-budget bills have still not been assigned to committees while they continue working on the 2010 budget. Stuck in this legislative limbo are several AzCDL-requested bills, including SB 1270 (Constitutional Carry) and SB 1243 (Defensive Display). Stay tuned! When critical legislation moves, we will notify you via these Alerts. Copyright © 2009 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved. --- From John Farnam: 14 Apr 09 Gas-piston Stoner Rifles: I just completed an Urban Rifle Course in UT. Students brought the usual assortment of AR-15s and Kalashnikovs. We also had one RA/XCR (mine) and one DSA/FAL. All ran fine for the duration, except for one of the AR-15s, which was a gas-piston model. All the other ARs were conventional Stoner System (pressurized receiver) models, and all experienced no more than the usual number of hiccups. However, the one gas-piston ARs displayed many unscheduled interruptions, mostly failures to eject. We all made a mental note that this is not a rifle any of us would want! Unhappily, this experience has been typical at our UR Courses. As a rule, gas-piston ARs do not hold up nearly as well as conventional ARs. To add insult to injury, gas-piston ARs are a good deal more expensive than are standard models! It strikes me that, in their enthusiasm to maintain the classic AR-15 profile, designers attempting to equip this rifle with a gas-piston have produced both a piston and op-rod that are tiny when compared with those found on the XCR, SIG/556, and other military rifles in the same 223 caliber. Apparently, a gas-piston system that small is below the reliability threshold, because we can't seem to keep them running satisfactorily. The original Stoner System (pressurized receiver) has had a disappointing tenure. Compared with gas-piston systems, like the Kalashnikov, it has been excessively maintenance-dependant, because so much garbage ends up in the receiver. Gas-piston rifles don't get nearly as dirty, nearly as fast. However, in my opinion, gas-pistons and op-rods must be substantial, even on rifles chambered for 223. Tiny parts and tiny systems do not reliable rifles make! /John (John clearly has his brand preferences. It's not clear if they have influenced this report.) 15 Apr 09 Piracy! Around the Horn or Africa, piracy is far from a "new" phenomenon, having been a scourge in the area for millennia. It is only in the age of "learned helplessness" that the international maritime community interminably agonizes over the prospect of offering even the slightest resistance, the minutest inconvenience, to pirates. Pirates, no matter where they find employment, are vicious cutthroats, and always have been. Among less confused civilizations in the Nineteenth Century, the brutal truth of pirates and piracy was well known and honestly confronted. When encountered or captured, pirates were executed immediately. They were never afforded clemency nor consideration, nor should they have been. Today, of course, with confusion and institutionalized stupidity the prevailing philosophy, we, as a civilization, endlessly seek ways to become victims and foist forced-victimization upon our citizens! In the wake of last week's daring rescue of an American ship's captain by the US Navy, airwaves are predictably brimming with pundits and "study groups," all regurgitating the same sorry dogma: "Never offer any species of resistance to violent criminals. Never fight back. Freely allow yourself to be maimed, raped, and murdered. Such a fate is surely better by far than being guilty displaying even the slightest personal initiative!" Their pitiable rationalizations we've all heard before: (1) "It will escalate violence" ... Well, I sure hope so! (2) "It will start an arms race" ... There is no "race" when only one side is racing! (3) "Sailors are too stupid to use guns effectively" ... Oh, please! (4) "Pirates are so clever, so superior in every way, that we can never win. Resistance is futile!" ... For these pathetic losers, everything is impossible, and therefore nothing, no matter how promising, should ever be attempted. If these people are Americans, then I'm ashamed to call myself one! /John --- From the March 2009 Ęgis Journal: ...A friend recently saw a security video on television in Hawaii in which a jewelry store was being robbed (he didn't know when or where it took place). The owner had been robbed before, and had gotten a gun, which to my friend's untutored eye appeared to be a double action semiautomatic pistol. On this occasion, the bad guy, looking suspicious and acting suspiciously, was moving around the store. The store owner drew his gun and waited. Eventually the bad guy pulled a gun from his pocket and turned to face the store owner. Seeing the store owner's gun the robber started firing, emptying his gun into the store owner (who, by the way, apparently lived). And the store owner? Well, apparently in the stress of the moment he forgot to disengage the safety on his weapon, so it wouldn't go bang. The function of a gun safety on older semiautomatics was to insure that the gun would not discharge if dropped. The design of recent modern semiautomatics prevents that from happening. In addition, the safety also functions as a de-cocker, lowering the hammer safely when the gun is cocked. Glock has a safety built into the trigger, so that it won't discharge unless you are, in fact, pulling the trigger. People who carry single-action semiautomatic pistols with a round in the chamber and cocked carry them with the safety engaged, as the light pressure needed to pull the trigger demands this. People who carry double action semiautomatic pistols carry them with the safety disengaged (and tend to have a gunsmith remove other unsafe safeties likely to get them killed, like a magazine disconnect). People with modern revolvers don't face this issue. Modern revolvers have a mechanism that will prevent discharge of the weapon if dropped. The bottom line is that under stress you tend to act differently on the range than you will in a violent confrontation, and that we feel that a gun you carry should have as few impediments to going bang as possible. On the other side, some make the case that you want a safety in case the gun is wrested from you, and your assailant doesn't know enough about guns to disengage it. This is the basis for the enthusiasm of those not familiar with guns and their use for "smart" guns that will only fire if you are the one pulling the trigger of your gun. As an example, modifications can be made on Smith and Wesson revolvers (http://www.tarnhelm.com/magnatrigger/gun/safety/magna1.html) that prevent them from firing unless you are wearing a magnetic ring. While "smart" guns appear to have some merit, we believe the risk outweighs the merit, and that "smart" guns increase the likelihood of your ending up dead. Because of this risk, you will see that police departments will reject use of "smart" guns, and so should you. While this editor favors revolvers, if you carry a double action semiautomatic that has an external safety, and don't want to find yourself wondering why it doesn't go bang when bullets are whizzing your way, think long and hard before engaging it... (On-safe carry is worthy of consideration by those who carry openly, such as police and security officers. With the growing popularity of open carry among private citizens, it is also worth considering by that group. I argue against open carry in holsters that do not incorporate at least one level of active retention device. The keys are training and consistency. The thumbs-forward shooting grip that many of us teach for autoloading pistols facilitates the upward movement to disengage most hammer-dropping safeties, provided that the user has long enough thumbs. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, when I was involved, taught on-safe carry with disengagement of the safety while the gun was still in the holster, so that even those with small hands would have the gun in the firing mode when it was drawn. For many years I used holsters with thumb breaks. The first time I carried in an open-top holster while teaching, I lost a fraction of a second fumbling for a thumb break that wasn't there. Years later, after using open-top holsters for a few years, I wore an exposed revolver, in a thumb-break holster, to a gun show in New Mexico, which did not yet recognize the Arizona CWP. When asked to unload my revolver before entering the show, I initially forgot to pop the thumb break, even though I had rehearsed it mentally several times on the drive over. If anyone feels that he falls into the limited class of people who would benefit from a Magna Triggered revolver, I have a 2 ½" S&W M-66 so fitted, which I would love to sell.) http://www.aegisjournal.com/ -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .