Why Own a Gun?

Because there are people like this in the world:


Teen Gunned Down After He “Accidentally” Kicked In Door, Attacked Homeowner

 The district attorney said that Ramon was known in the neighborhood… and not for his hugs

Woman Stops Burglar, Holds at Gunpoint 23 Minutes Until Police Arrive

  In short order she found Joseph Baker in her home; he had broken through two doors to get in.

Seattle teen kills man for cellphone — then complains the device is too cheap: cops 

 “He said that the man had seen his face, and he had to shoot him,” a detective wrote in court papers, the newspaper reported. “He showed his companions the phone he had finally taken from the man and expressed his disappointment that it was not a nicer model.”

Dad bites off infant's nose, police say

 "The investigation revealed the father bit the child's nose off while he was crying and he was frustrated he was not able to ease the child's crying." Oviatt said.

Chicago et al Asking For Another Lawsuit

C(r)ook Cnty President Prickwinkle seems to think that the part of the law that says only the State Legislature can regulate handguns doesn't apply to him:

Watch for Preckwinkle to issue orders this week restricting about 6,000 Cook County employees who work in offices under the president from packing heat while on the clock.

“She is closing a loophole in the state’s concealed carry law,” a Preckwinkle source said. 

 “Preckwinkle is now expanding the policy by restricting weapon carrying while working outside of county buildings and in the field,” the source added.

I'm no lawyer but they're probably going to lose this one as well. 

They don't care about safety or 'reasonable regulations' or 'common-sense'.  They care about restricting/banning guns in any way they think they can get away w/.

Auragun update

Oregon legislature has convened and it passed two pro-gun bills and one anti-gun bill died in the Senate.

HB4068 addresses CHL applicants who have had a single misdemeanor marijuana conviction.
HB4035 addresses corrections officers who want to store guns in their cars at work.

SB1551 would have expanded background checks.

Thanks to the Oregon Firearms Federation and all the members who made some noise, we got a win/win/win.

I think I'll call my local Reps back and try and get some feedback.

Define 'Common'..

Read this statement:

California law generally prohibits individuals from carrying concealed weapons. Such laws are common throughout the United States.

Really?  That's why EVERY state has some form of concealed carry law w/ the overwhelming majority being 'shall issue' or better? 

Now this statement on law isn't coming from some anti-gun puppet, this is from the Dean of the UC Irvine School of Law.

So is he lying and/or deliberately ignorant? There are no other choices.

This is the mentality of gun control in action.

@CSGV Libels TTAG

I'm not a real big fan of TTAG but they scored a photobomb win w/ this:



And the mouth-foaming fanatics above the bar (iow CSGV headquarters) go positively batsh!t over it, accusing TTAG of everything but defenestration.



Oh, 'held accountable'. Sounds like the same kinds of threats CSGV made back when they decided 'outing' and then publishing work and home locations of bloggers they couldn't argue against was a good idea. Maybe they'll be denounced as 'insurrectionists' to the US Congress next.

Hats off to TTAG.  Win.

Russian Ammo Shortage? Who To Believe

So we've got Putin slapping around the Ukrainians and the West yelling "STOP!!! or we'll say stop again" leading some to speculate that the bear will stop shipping ammo to the US. 

“Russia Has Reportedly Halted All Exports To The US Of Russian Made Ammunition” 

... it appears that another supply pipeline may have been cut.
If you don’t already have it then prepare to go without or pay double the price or more in coming days and week....

That is about to change.
The largest wholesale gun & ammo distributors in the US have informed us in private conversation today that a massive scramble is on for all 7.62 as Russia has reportedly halted all exports to the US of Russian made ammunition.

If you’re one second late, you’ll be out of luck.

 OTOH, we have others saying these reports are BS:

 We called Tula USA moments ago, and they are reporting that it is “business as usual,” in their office. Bearing Arms also spoke to several distributors who also said that they are not scrambling for ammo as the various blog posts indicate. None of the distributors we talked to report having heard of any credible information that the Russians would stop the export of ammunition.

 I called the owner of Wolf Ammo (which is an American company by the way) this morning to see what I could find out about the status of imports. I was told that ammo is “on the water”, as are VEPR AK’s, and is headed towards the United States as I type this. I was also told that they have heard no news from Russia that their export agreements have been canceled or otherwise impeded.

So on one hand we have vague references to 'major suppliers' and 'private conversations'. On the other we have ACTUAL suppliers/manufacturers and public conversations. I think I know who I'm going to believe. 

Encouraging panic buying only makes us look like fools and puts money into those who are going to gouge you.  After SH, I saw some off brand AR's for $2k and other jackasses buying them. Ammo and mags going for 3-5x what they normally do and people snatching them up. Now that prices have stabilized, many of them are trying to dump their overstocks onto the market at what they paid for them and noone's buying.

Encouraging panic buying will just cause all this over again.  If you're out at the store or a show, yeah, pick up a few extra boxes.  Never hurts.  If you see a really good deal, get a case.  Should have been doing that the entire time anyway, not waiting in multi-hour lines to maybe buy it because you think they're going to ban it.

Keep Honking, I'm reloading

Well I’m off and running now with the whole reloading adventure.  I went to the local range and picked up a bunch of brass which I assume is .308 but it might be 7.62X54 but it’s close enough to use in my 30.06 M1 Garand. Some old coot at the shooting bench next to the scrap bucket was blathering on about something that those cases were Berdan primed, old military brass or something. I told him that even if I knew what that meant, I still wouldn’t care since I don’t take “advice” from old fogies.

First thing I did was clean up that old brass. I ran out of kindling wood for the stove so I used the crushed walnut media I had bought to start a fire yesterday; it was a bit chilly. I just loaded up the tumbler with hot soapy water, some shredded sandpaper scraps, two handfuls of rock salt and some loose S.O.S. pads to get into all the nooks and crannies.

I broke some random piece off my decapping die on the first case and it wouldn’t pop out the old primers anymore so I did the rest with a hammer and screw driver while the case was clamped in a vise.

Weighing out the powder was taking too long as the scale arm was bobbing up and down for like forever so I weighed out the first charge, filled the case and then just eye-balled the rest.

Then jamming the bullet in and crimping the neck with some pliers was relatively easy.

Well, I’m off to the range now, I feel sorry for all you fools who actually pay store prices for ammo. This went pretty smooth so far.

I think I’ll bring the hammer, screwdriver and pliers with me and see if I can reload these cases and fire them again within 30 seconds just to challenge myself.

Just gotta stop by the liquor store first.

Armor & Revetments

To add a bit to my OGRE DE game, I asked the intersphere about finding good 'revetments' to use in 1/285th scale (which would also fit nicely on the ODE board).  I was pointed to CinC miniatures, specifically their 'Tank Hull Down' and their 'Sandbagged Gun Position' for infantry. Got them in the mail today (PE Hvy Tank for comparison):

To get free shipping, I added to the order some sets of some of my favorite Soviet era armor, the T-72 and ZSU23-4. 

Going to have the revetments painted up....well.... revetment-y  and the armor in standard OD green.  They'll be used not only as shelf decorations but in scenarios using 'archaic armor'.

Florida Carry Doing It Right

When they get an PuSH'er into a mouth foaming tizzy, you know they're on the right track:

a Deadwood-like mind-set that one must be fully armed 24 hours a day
 Agenda 21 crowd descends from the black helicopters
 frothing gun rights groups across the state that won't be satisfied until all newborns from Panama City to Key West are issued a TEC-9 in their bassinet.
 where anyone could pack heat in their vehicles
 the fighting body bags of Cross Hair U.
 shoot people just for the heck of it. 
 while the Second Amendment is all very nice
  gun-toting poltroons

Thank you Danny.  Articles like this get groups like Florida Carry and the NRA dozens of more supporters every time you publish them.

IGOLD 2014: We Are Not Going Away

Getting ready to head out to Springfield, IL for our annual march on the capitol. Updates throughout the day.

Met up w/ David (also an OGRE player) and Colleen Lawson of McDonald et al v Chicago. They are now the proprietors of Lawson Handgun Institute in Chicago.

More IGOLD insurrectionists:

Mike Neely introducing the panel:

ISRA 2nd VP reciting the pledge.

Singer Ronnie Lee and ISRA 2nd vp Weisman singing the natl anthem.

ISRA ED Richard Pearson:  We are NOT going away. We've won 10 lawsuits for gun rights w/ 4 or 5 more in the works.

My State Sen Dale Righter: If you care, Quinn has got to go.

 State Treas/Gov Candidate Rutherford:

 State Sen/Gov Candidate Bill Brady:

 State Sen/ /Gov Candidate Kirk Dillard:

Rutherford's talk wasn't bad. He emphasized he's been coming to IGOLD for the last 8 years and was the only state officer (Treasurer) that has showed. Brady and Dillard spent most of their time at the podium sniping at the other gov. candidates guaranteeing I won't vote for either one in the primary on the 18th.  I don't know why Rauner wasn't there. 

State Rep Brandon Phelps who got us CCW:  Not a great bill but better than what they pushed and we're working to get it better.

 Valinda Rowe of Illinois Carry:  I've retired my comb and tongue depressor and replaced them w/ a CCW license and a 9mm.

Todd Vandermyde: Lobbyist
No blood in the street, only snow and salt after CCW
Get out and vote
It's only about registration until it's about confiscation
1.million to 1.67 million FOID card increase

 John Boch: GSL Pres.  If you see a Mom Demanding Action, don't remind them their family tree probably resembles a wreath. 

More updates after the march/when I get home.

Prepping for the march at the Prairie Capitol Convention Center.

 The march.

 GSL Youth Corps. 

 Not everyone is happy about the CCW bill.

 Attendance was about 40% of previous years.  Not surprising being that the primary incentive, CCW was achieved last session.  Some more prominent figures were unable to attend due to inescapable work conflicts or health issue yet still the number of volunteers and workers alone outnumbered anti-gun 'protests' 10-1 (post on that maybe tomorrow). I didn't get to talk to any of my reps/senators due to them doing what we pay them for.  They know who I am and know I will contact them when I need to.  I did get to spend a lot of quality time w/ friends and other gun nuts from across the state.

Random thoughts that went through my head.  If gun owners were really as violent as anti-gun fanatics need to believe we are, you'ld think that a regiment sized group of people marching towards one state capitol would end up in some sort of violence.  I mean hell, the Soviets, I mean Russians, invaded the entire Crimea region w/ 15K or so troops. 

Livestreaming of some of the speeches here.