So Is Asst AG Lanny Breuer The Next Fall Guy?

Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer admitted in a statement released this afternoon that he knew of both Operation Wide Receiver and Operation Fast and Furious as early as April 2010.

Today, Breuer issued a statement saying he "regrets" that he didn't alert others in Justice Department leadership, apparently including his boss Attorney General Eric Holder.

In a separate ATF case reported by CBS News earlier this year, called "Fast and Furious" and started under the Obama Administration, Breuer says he likewise regrets not alerting leaders about the similarities in the cases. That, said Breuer, was a mistake.

Given the increasing number of Representatives calling for Attorney General Eric Holder's ouster as well as the new ad campaign from the NRA, my surmise is that this is an effort to deflect attention away from Holder. It appears to me that Breuer is willing to take the fall in order to protect those higher up in the food chain. It would be interesting to know what perk or promise he is being given in exchange for being the designated fall guy.

I think a pattern is developing in which mid-level officials are taking the hit in order to protect Holder and eventually President Obama. First you had former US Attorney for the District of Arizona Dennis Burke and Acting ATF Director Ken Melson take blame and now you have Assistant AG Lanny Breuer do the same thing. At the rate this is going, the Administration is going to run out of successively more important fall guys. However, it won't be for a lack of trying on their part.



UPDATE: Katie Pavlich of Townhall.com writing today about Breuer's sudden acknowledgement of knowing about Operation Fast and Furious:

Breuer’s testimony and statements about “not making connections” between two separate but similar gunwalking programs and his claim he never told Attorney General Holder about his concerns or Fast and Furious at all, raise new questions.

Why is Breuer coming out with these revelations now? The House Oversight Committee Investigation into Fast and Furious has been going on for months, yet Breuer all the sudden regrets not sounding the alarm about the dangers of gunwalking when Operation Fast and Furious started in the Fall of 2009? While claiming he never told Attorney General Eric Holder about the program? Although Breuer claims he personally never told Holder about the tactics being used in Fast and Furious, five detailed memos about the lethal program dated July and August 2010 were addressed directly to Holder. Despite Breuer’s testimony, the question of “who authorized Fast and Furious,” remains unanswered.

It looks like someone, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, is falling on a sword, and that sword happens to be Eric Holder’s.

What A Great T-Shirt Saying!

A company called Team Sarcasm puts out these great T-shirts and hoodies with all sorts of funny sayings. Personally, I like the one below.

H/T Sheriff Jim

Washington State Appellate Court Upholds Ruling Saying Seattle Can't Ban Guns In Parks

The Second Amendment Foundation was handed another win today in the Washington State Court of Appeals for District 1. The court unanimously upheld a King County Superior Court ruling that said a City of Seattle ban on guns in city parks was invalid.

The Second Amendment Foundation continues to secure gun rights one lawsuit at a time!

Their release on the win is below.

APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS SAF VICTORY IN LAWSUIT V. SEATTLE PARKS GUN BAN

For Immediate Release: 10/31/2011

BELLEVUE, WA – The Washington State Court of Appeals for Division 1 today unanimously upheld a 2010 King County Superior Court ruling against the City of Seattle’s ban on firearms in city parks in a lawsuit originally brought by the Second Amendment Foundation, other gun rights groups and five individual plaintiffs.

SAF Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb said he had always been confident that the Appeals Court would rule “in favor of the law and against the attempt by Seattle to dance around it.”

“We told former Mayor Greg Nickels he was wrong,” Gottlieb said, “and we have reminded the city under Mayor Mike McGinn that it was wrong, and now the Appeals Court has confirmed our position.”

SAF was joined in the lawsuit by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the National Rifle Association and Washington Arms Collectors.

Writing for the Court, Presiding Chief Judge Ann Schindler noted, “We hold that under the plain language of RCW 9.41.290 and RCW 9.41.300, the city’s attempt to regulate the possession of firearms at designated park areas and park facilities open to the public by adopting the Firearms Rule is preempted by state law.”

“This is not only a victory for the citizens of Washington State,” he said, “but also for the State Legislature, which had the wisdom in 1983 and 1985 to pass and strengthen our preemption statute. This law has become the model for other state statutes across the country.

“The ruling is also an affirmation of Judge Catherine Shaffer’s original trial court ruling last year,” he continued. “She had the foresight to include observations about our state constitutional right to bear arms but also the Second Amendment.

“Now that the Second Amendment has been incorporated to the states through our victory in McDonald v. City of Chicago,” Gottlieb concluded, “it is going to be impossible for anti-gun politicians in the Evergreen State to defy our preemption statute and our constitutional rights. Such local rules and ordinances are illegal, and now they know it for sure.”

NRA-ILA's "Fire Eric Holder" Ad Campaign

The NRA-ILA has taken off the gloves when it comes to Eric Holder and has launched a video ad campaign asking supporters to call their elected representatives in D.C. and ask for Holder's resignation.

You can see their campaign-style video below.

Occupy Gracie Mansion

Grace Mansion for the uninitiated is the official residence of the Mayor of New York. For the last several years it has been occupied by Michael Bloomberg, billionaire, nanny stater, and gun control proponent.

Not content to attempt to impose New York City-style gun control on the rest of the nation through his Mayor Against Illegal Guns, Bloomberg is now trying to buy six State Senate seats in the commonwealth of Virginia in an effort to block gun rights reforms there.

Bloomberg (I) has donated $25,000 of his own money to six Senate Democratic candidates, who are involved in some of the closest races in the state: Sen. Toddy Puller (Fairfax), Sen. Dave Marsden (Fairfax), Sen. George Barker (Prince William), Sen. Mark Herring (Loudoun), Sen. John Miller (Newport News) and Barbara Favola, who is running for an open seat in Arlington.

As noted in The Gothamist, not everyone is happy about Bloomberg's meddling in their state.

When reached for comment on his donations, a manager at A&P Arms in Hampton, Virginia told a Daily News reporter, "He's an arrogant bastard who shouldn't be meddling." This man will have his chance to tell Bloomberg what he thinks in person: the mayor plans to visit Virginia next week.

John Feinblatt, the mayor's Criminal Justice Coordinator, is blunt about what they are trying to do.

The state Senate, controlled by Democrats 22-18, has blocked the passage of those bills (repeal of one gun a month and campus carry) - but the party's hold on power is tenuous.

If these six would lose, the laws (gun rights bills) would sail through, said Feinblatt. A bad situation would get even worse.

The South saw its share of carpetbaggers and scalawags during Reconstruction. It looks like Mayor Bloomberg wants to go back to that era - at least when it comes to Virginia and gun control.

Didn't Return Home Empty Handed

I didn't return home empty handed after attending Chris and Elise's wedding in Cincinnati this weekend.

From left to right is Pure Kentucky XO, Willett Pot Still Reserve, and Buffalo Trace's White Dog Mash No. 1. The Pure Kentucky XO is a 12-year old small batch bourbon from Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, Ltd. while the Willett Pot Still Reserve is a single barrel bourbon by the same company. The White Dog isn't yet bourbon because it hasn't been aged. It is essentially legal moonshine. On a side note, the Willett Pot Still Reserve has the coolest bottle - it is shaped just like a pot still.

If we didn't have to get home early today, I might have been able to pick up some others not available through the state-owned North Carolina ABC Stores. However, there will be future trips and more bourbons to find and try.

As to Chris and Elise, their wedding was wonderful, the bride looked stunningly beautiful, and Chris looked quite handsome in his tux. Elise, who graduated from the University of Cincinnati Law School in May, found out on the morning of the wedding that she had passed the Ohio Bar which made the rest of the day even more of a celebration. Congratulations to both of them and best wishes for a long and happy life together.

Reflections On A Training Class

One of my goals for the year was to take a training class. The abbreviated class offered by Rangemaster's Tom Givens at the Lucky Gunny Memorial Day Blogger Shoot was good. However, it was not a full-blown class but rather an appetizer. So when Sean Sorrentino said he was pulling together a training class for North Carolina gun bloggers, I signed up immediately - and I am so glad that I did.

The class was offered by TigerSwan at their range just outside of Fayetteville, North Carolina. I think TigerSwan has flown under the training radar because the bulk of their work is with military and law enforcement clientele. It hasn't gotten the same press that more famous schools like GunSite or Thunder Ranch have received. However, if my introductory pistol class was an indication of the quality of the training received, it should.

I am not a world-class shooter and I have never even shot an IDPA club match. In all honesty, I am a mediocre shooter at best. That said, by lunchtime I was not only hitting a B-8 target at 25 yards in timed rapid fire (5 shots in 20 seconds times four) but was getting 20 out of 20 on the target. Even better, five of those 20 were in the black. This was with a stock Ruger SR9. It shows what quality instruction can bring out of a shooter.

Sgt Major Brian Searcy, USA (Ret)

The lead instructor was TigerSwans' President and COO Brian Searcy who had spent 16 out of his 23-year Army career with 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta aka Delta Force. He was the unit's Operations Sergeant Major and ran their pistol training program. He also had extensive experience as both an operational sniper and in sniper training. In terms of qualifications, skills, and experience, Brian is like Larry Vickers - another trainer and Delta Force veteran - but without the TV exposure. Brian's assistant for this class was Paul whose last name I never caught. Paul, like Brian, had served in both the Army Special Forces and Delta Force.

Neither Brian nor Paul took the drill instructor approach to this class. Rather they showed us how it should be done, made adjustments to our shooting style, and offered quiet critiques. They also offered lots of encouragement.

The training itself is built around the fundamentals - grip, stance, target picture, breathing, trigger pull, and follow-through. Their goal was help us learn what it took to produce a single, well-aimed shot and then build from there. George at Newbie Shooter blog who went through the class with me has a good description of this process in this post.

One of the things I've noticed in retrospect is that much of the training emphasized an economy of motion. For example, in their draw sequence, instead of holding your weak hand flat against your chest, you were taught to hold it with your fingers spread and wrist cocked towards the target. This puts the weak hand in the position to complete the two-handed grip much quicker. Another example was we were encouraged to use our pistol's slide release after we reloaded instead of the "slingshot method". Again, it is quicker and gets you on target faster. When you consider what Brian and Paul did in their former lives, you begin to appreciate how these little small changes could make a huge difference down the road.

As the class wound down, Brian encouraged us to devote 10 minutes a day to dry fire practice. Building the muscle memory serves to make many parts of the shooting process an unconscious reaction so that you can concentrate on the shot and the target. A couple of days after I got home, I received follow-on tips and drills from Brian to help us build on what we learned in the class. Not only was this a nice touch but it showed a commitment to helping us grow as shooters even after the class was over and done.

In conclusion, I would recommend without any reservations training with TigerSwan. They know how to shoot and, more importantly, they know how to teach.

Cummings Keeps Pushing It Was All A Local Problem Meme

Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee keeps trying to push the meme that Operation Fast and Furious was a local operation out of the ATF's Phoenix Field Division that went horribly wrong. In a letter today to Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA), he pushed to have former ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson appear at the same hearing as Attorney General Eric Holder.

Our staffs have already conducted transcribed interviews with Mr. Melson and the former Deputy Director of ATF, William Hoover. During those interviews, these officials expressed serious concerns about the controversial tactics employed by the Phoenix Field Division of ATF as part of this operation. They also raised concerns about the manner in which the Department of Justice responded to congressional inquiries. Both officials also stated that they had not been aware of the controversial tactics being used in Operation Fast and Furious, had not authorized those tactics, and had not informed anyone at the Department of Justice headquarters about them. They stated that Operation Fast and Furious originated within the Phoenix Field Division, and that ATF headquarters failed to properly supervise it.

Mr. Cummings certainly has his job cut out for him if he intends to be the Obama Administration's designated obstructionist into finding the facts of Operation Fast and Furious. As for Melson, he seems to have been bought off rather cheaply with the transfer to DOJ which allows him to keep his full pension. Of course, it is you and I as taxpayers who are footing the bill for that payoff.

Light Blogging For Rest Of Weekend

There will be light to no blogging for the rest of Friday through the weekend. We are heading out to Cincinnati for the Complementary Spouse's nephew Chris's wedding to Elise.

On a gunnie note, Chris, though a chemist, would like to be a Class III NFA firearm dealer. He has already been to Knob Creek a few times and has discussed setting up a NFA trust with his dad. When I see young people like him have an interest in firearms, I just smile.

A Follow-Up On Rep. Joe Walsh's Call For Holder To Resign

As a bit of a follow-up to my post on Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) becoming the fourth Congressman to call on Eric Holder to resign as Attorney General, here is Cam Edwards interview with Walsh from NRA News.

Rep. Cliff Stearns On HR 822 Moving Out Of Committee

Ginny Simone of NRA News interviewed Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) who is the sponsor of HR 822 - the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011. Stearns has been pushing for national reciprocity for the last 10 years and is pleased to see it moving through the House.

Quote Of The Day

In his discussion of rumors that former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden is going to roll over on Eric Holder and others in the Obama Administration - which Mike warns might be a disinformation effort - he goes on to say that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has enough now that they could indict William Newell for perjury. That is, if the Republican leadership would allow it.

Sources say that the Oversight Committee has more than enough evidence to charge "Gunwalker Bill" Newell (and others) with more than one count of perjury. The Republican leadership, specifically John Boehner, is reported to oppose that because "he doesn't want to get ahead of the facts," according to one source. The same source, who works for the federal government, added in disgust, "The real reason is that Boehner is a pussy."

The source believes that were Newell to be charged, demonstrating the seriousness of the Committee's intent, that "there would be an instant change in the attitude of the rest of the guilty" and that "the cover-up would collapse overnight." The cover-up "COULD be collapsed overnight," said the source, "if the Republican leadership had the balls to do it. But they don't."

More than once I've been tempted to send a set of these to the Republican leadership as a replacement but didn't want to waste the money.

Walsh Becomes 4th Congressman To Call Upon Holder To Resign

Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) was one of the speakers at the recent Gun Rights Policy Conference held in Chicago and made a very strong, pro-gun address. He has now become the fourth Congressman to call on Attorney General Eric Holder to resign over Project Gunwalker. In his letter to Holder, Congressman Walsh said the motivation for the operation seemed to be to curtail American's Second Amendment rights under the pretext of stopping guns going to Mexico.

Your Department has made an enormous error in judgment. It instructed federally-licensed firearms dealers to illegally sell at least 2,000 guns that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) intended to be trafficked to drug cartels in Mexico. The results of this error in judgment have implicated the United States in well over one hundred deadly crimes and the deaths of two federal agents.

This not only raises serious questions about your ability to serve as the head of the Justice Department, but also begs the question of why an anti-gun Administration would knowingly force licensed firearms dealers to sell guns to violent criminals. I raise this because Operation Fast and Furious — if the facts of this case had not come to light — would have been used by this Administration as another false argument to attack law-abiding American gun owners.

The American people deserve to know if your Department had any intent to link the legal purchase of firearms here in the U.S. to crimes committed near our southern border. Operation Fast and Furious funneled firearms legally purchased at gun shops in the U.S. to known criminal syndicates to prove these syndicates have access to legal purchased weapons. This is a deliberate attempt to vilify and attack the millions of gun owners in America who value our Second Amendment and have never broken the law.

Stephen Halbrook On The Challenge To The Multi-Gun Reporting Requirements

Attorney Stephen Halbrook was interviewed yesterday by Cam Edwards of NRA News about the challenges to the ATF's multi-long gun reporting requirement for the border states. He discussed the motion hearing held in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday. One of the more interesting things he mentioned was that Judge Rosemary Collyer asked the government's attorneys about Operation Fast and Furious.

Meanwhile, The Anti's Are Spinning

Joyce Foundation funded Media Matters for America is desperately trying to spin the recent Gallup Poll as support for gun control. After attacking the question on handgun bans as outdated, they try to say that most people support "reasonable gun control".

In other words, the vast majority of Americans support reasonable gun control measures; only a small fraction is actually opposed to gun control.

This finding is confirmed by other recent polling that shows that Americans support measures to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals. According to one poll, 89 percent of respondents support requiring all gun buyers to pass a background check at gun shows, 94 percent support requiring gun owners to alert police if their guns are lost or stolen, and 69 percent support requiring those buying ammunition to pass a criminal background check. Another poll showed 86 percent of respondents supported background checks for every gun buyer.

And what are the polls that they use to "confirm" this? None other than the discredited push polls commissioned by Mayor Bloomberg and his Illegal Mayors. I think that says about everything.

UPDATE: Thirdpower has more on this and examines some of the comments made supporting the Media Matters' spin on gun control.

SAF On Recent Gallup Poll

The Second Amendment Foundation released this in response to the recent Gallup poll showing support for more gun control at an all-time low.

SAF SAYS NEW GALLUP DATA SHOWS AMERICANS VALUE THEIR GUN RIGHTS
For Immediate Release: 10/26/2011

BELLEVUE, WA – Today’s revelation by Gallup that a record low number of Americans support a legal ban on handgun possession by private citizens demonstrates a positive change in the public attitude about personal protection and the Second Amendment, the Second Amendment Foundation said.

According to Gallup, only 26 percent of Americans favor a handgun ban. The annual Gallup Crime poll was conducted Oct. 6-9.

“American citizens have become increasingly aware that they are the true ‘first responders’ when a crime happens in their presence,” noted SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “The public’s attitude about gun ownership has changed dramatically in the last decade, and especially since the Supreme Court’s Heller ruling in 2008 and our victory in the 2010 McDonald ruling, affirming the Second Amendment protects an individual civil right.

“The public has also realized that all the doom and gloom rhetoric from gun prohibitionists about more crime and violence associated with increased gun ownership has been wrong,” he continued. “More Americans today own firearms than they did a generation ago, yet violent crime rates are at their lowest levels in many years.”

According to Gallup, there is also greater opposition to a ban on semiautomatic sport-utility rifles, often wrongly identified as “assault weapons.” Only 43 percent of those polled think these guns should be banned, down ten percent from the 2001 poll. Support for stricter gun laws has also declined, with 44 percent believing laws should be left as they are, and 11 percent favoring less strict laws.

“The pendulum has definitely been swinging in favor of expanded gun rights,” Gottlieb observed. “For too long, people were fooled by hysteria and misinformation from gun prohibitionists and their cheerleaders in the press. But their alarmist rhetoric has failed the test of time, and now Americans by greater percentages than we’ve seen in generations are realizing that gun rights are important, to our security as a nation and to public safety in our own neighborhoods.”

Janet Napolitano Was "Recalcitrant" And A "Reluctant Witness"

In an interview with Lou Dobbs on Fox Business, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) characterized Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano as recalcitrant and a reluctant witness. She testified before the House Judiciary Committee where she was grilled about Operation Fast and Furious by a number of Republican members of the committee.

Napolitano, at one point likening the questioning to a cross-examination, said repeatedly she only learned of "Fast and Furious" after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in December. She emphasized the operation, conceived and run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, "was an ATF operation," under the auspices of the Justice Department, not her department.

As SayUncle Would Say - Winning!

The Gallup Poll released a report today showing that self-reported gun ownership is at the highest level in 18 years. Currently, 47% of American households report that they have either a firearm in their home or somewhere else on their property. This is an increase from last year when only 41% of homes reported a firearm.

The bottom line according to Gallup is this:

A clear societal change took place regarding gun ownership in the early 1990s, when the percentage of Americans saying there was a gun in their home or on their property dropped from the low to mid-50s into the low to mid-40s and remained at that level for the next 15 years. Whether this reflected a true decline in gun ownership or a cultural shift in Americans' willingness to say they had guns is unclear. However, the new data suggest that attitudes may again be changing. At 47%, reported gun ownership is the highest it has been in nearly two decades -- a finding that may be related to Americans' dampened support for gun-control laws. However, to ensure that this year's increase reflects a meaningful rebound in reported gun ownership, it will be important to see whether the uptick continues in future polling.

While gun ownership is highest among men, Republicans, and Southerners, what is most interesting to me is not that there is a difference between Democrats and Republicans but that self-identified Democrats or Democrat-leaning who report having a firearm rose from 32% to 40%. (See graph on gun ownership by Party ID.) This would correlate strongly with what Sebastian reported earlier about support for a handgun-ban being at record lows.

HR 822 - What It Does And Doesn't Do

With HR 822 having passed out of the House Judiciary Committee on a 19-11 vote, it is important to understand what it does and doesn't do. Mayor Bloomberg and his Illegal Mayors are leading the charge against it from the anti-gun side. Moreover, there are some pro-gun activists such as the National Association for Gun Rights that claim it is a stealth bill for more Federal control. Finally, there is the false accusation in some quarters that the NRA-ILA was coming down on bloggers about the bill.

The impact of HR 822 on North Carolina will be minimal as Sean Sorrentino has pointed out. Effective December 1st, we have universal reciprocity and will recognize the permits from any other state.

In the video below, Cam Edwards interviews John Frazier, Research Director for NRA-ILA, on what the bill does and doesn't do.

Ball And Dummy Drill

Saturday was spent at the TigerSwan Training Collaboration Center taking an Introductory Pistol class with five other NC gun bloggers and a few other folks. I didn't believe it was possible to learn so much in one day!

One of the drills we learned was called the Ball and Dummy Drill. A quick Google search shows that there are many variations of this drill. While some have criticized it, I found it a very helpful drill. The goal is to have the shooter stop anticipating the recoil or to stop jerking the trigger.

The variation we used did not involve using dummy rounds. Instead we paired off with one person shooting and the other person loading one round. With his or her back to the shooter, one person would either load or not load a magazine and then insert it into the shooter's pistol. The pistol would then be handed to the shooter to take the shot.



Sean* acting as coach and loader



I found that you could go a number of shots/non-shots and then screw up out of the blue. Then you had to make a mental note to concentrate on a smooth trigger pull and do it again and again.

I should note here that we did this drill while shooting at 25 yards at a B-8 target. Other variations of the drill suggest doing it at 3 yards.


Lynell being coached by George while instructor Brian Searcy watches.

 One of the other things instructor Brian Searcy added to the mix was to have the coach/loader put his hand in front of your face every so often and have you call the shot after you just took it. This helped up build awareness of where our shot went.

The only downside to not using dummy rounds involves pistols that have a loaded chamber indicator. If, like my Ruger SR9, the pistol has a loaded chamber indicator, then the loader and shooter have to make a conscious effort to hide that fact from the shooter. I know both I and Sean did make this effort.

This is a drill you can practice at any range whether indoor or outdoor. As I said earlier, I found it really valuable in helping develop a smooth trigger pull and in stopping anticipation.


*This Sean is not Sean Sorrentino but the other Sean in the class. We had two Georges and two Seans in the class.

NSSF To File Amicus Brief In Jennings v BATFE Appeal

In their Bullet Points newsletter, the National Shooting Sports Foundation announced plans to file an amicus brief in support of the NRA's appeal of Jennings et al v. BATFE. This was the NRA's challenge in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on the prohibition of the sale of handguns to 18-20 year old adults by Federal Firearm Licensees.

In response to a ruling by a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas in favor of the federal government in a case brought by the NRA challenging the federal restriction on the purchase of handguns by 18-20 year old adults, NSSF plans to file a friend-of-the-court brief in support of NRA's appeal of the ruling. In the case, Jennings v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the NRA and a group of responsible young adults argued that since 18-20 year olds are considered adults for virtually every other purpose, such as voting and military service, adults in this age group should also be able to purchase handguns from licensed retailers. A similar case, in which many of the same plaintiffs challenge the state of Texas' ban on issuance of right-to-carry permits to adults under 21, remains pending in the same court

Attorneys for the plaintiffs filed their appeal on October 7th and the case was assigned a docket number last week on the 19th. No briefs have yet been filed.

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Hickok45 On The Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle

Greg Hickok - Hickok45 - wrings out a Ruger Gunsite Scout Rifle in his latest video. He rings the gong at 230 yards with the iron sights only!

The only criticism I might have of this video is that he needed to try the rifle with optics. Col. Jeff Cooper designed the Scout Rifle to use both iron and optical sights.

North Carolina Gun Blogs

Thanks to the efforts of Sean Sorrentino, six North Carolina gun bloggers (and four other fine folks) got together for a day of pistol training at the TigerSwan Training Collaboration Center near Fayetteville, North Carolina. More about that in later posts.

One of the important things that came out of Saturday is the realization that there is a growing gun blogger community within North Carolina. In addition to Sean, whom I had met before, I got to meet George (Newbie Shooter), Paul (Arms are the Mark of a Free Man), Larry (Last Refuge of a Scoundrel), and Rich (Knitebane Manor). And with the exception of George, we all attended an open carry dinner in Garner afterwards.

In addition, I just corresponded with Ron at When the Balloon Goes Up! which is a new gun blog that is off to a well-deserved fast start. Of course, I had to find out about a North Carolina blog by reading a blog in Pennsylvania!

If you look in my sidebar, you will notice a new addition. Just below my Blog Archives you will find a new section entitled NC Gun Blogs. I want to bring attention to the growing and vital North Carolina gun blogging community. While this list is not complete, it does include those bloggers with whom I have either corresponded or met in person. I fully expect this list to grow. Indeed, if you are a gun blogger and you reside in North Carolina, let me know and I'll add you to the list.

Who Would Have Thought It?

Who would have thought that the dead Libyan dictator Col. Moammar Gaddafi was a devotee of John Moses Browning? In the picture is his gold-plated Browning Hi-Power which was found on him when rebels captured him hiding out in a culvert.

Given that Libya once was ruled by Italy, you would have thought he would have a Beretta 92 or something similar. Conversely, given the close relationship over the years between Libya and the former Soviet Union, it would seem reasonable that he might have carried one of the Eastern Bloc pistols like a Makarov or a Tokarev.

As it is, I can't fault his taste in pistols however gaudy this specimen might be. He might have been an evil dictator and wacked in the head about a lot of things but this is one thing in my opinion he got right.

The British newspaper,  The Telegraph has a full story on Gaddafi and his golden guns. In addition to the golden Hi-Power, he had a golden AK-74 and a golden Dragunov. Like that other guy with the golden AK, Saddam Hussein, Gaddafi is dead. I guess it could be called the Curse of the Golden AK.

Off To A Pistol Class This Weekend!

Thanks to the efforts of Sean Sorrentino, I will be joining a handful of bloggers and some others for a Basic Pistol class offered by TigerSwan this weekend. The class will be held near Fayetteville, NC at the TigerSwan Training Collaboration Center and School.

The class will be taught be Sgt Major Brian Searcy, US Army (Ret).

Brian is a 23 year Army Special Operations veteran who culminated 16 years with Delta Force (1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta) as the unit’s Operations Sergeant Major. His leadership experience ranges from serving as a military advisor in Central and South America to serving as the Command Sergeant Major (senior enlisted advisor) for a 1700 person Special Operations Task Force in Iraq. A decorated combat leader, his awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star.

As an instructor in Delta, Brian wrote and taught classes in assault planning, VIP protection, rifle and pistol marksmanship, explosive and mechanical breaching, close quarters battle, vehicle assaults and hand to hand combat. He served as the program manager and primary instructor for the Unit’s shooting and hand to hand programs.

A competitive shooter for over 20 years, Brian has competed at the top levels of competition in both precision and action shooting. Brian is a U.S. Army Distinguished Pistol Shot and has been awarded the President’s Hundred Tab. His other marksmanship accolades include: Overall Winner- 2005 Joint Special Operations Command Small Arms Championships and the 2003 North Carolina Indoor Conventional Pistol Champion.

I've got my ammo packed, my Ruger SR9 cleaned, a new heavy-duty gun belt, and, if the USPS cooperates tomorrow, my new Kydex holster. I will have a full after-action report next week. Sean has said that TigerSwan will be providing a photographer to take pictures so we can concentrate on learning. I think they may be as excited about our coming as we are to be taking the class.

There will be light to no blogging tomorrow through the weekend.

600 Mayors! Oh, My!

Mayor Bloomberg and his Illegal Mayors are pulling out all the stops to try and derail HR 822 - the National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011. They placed a full page ad in USAToday asking people to call their Senators to oppose the bill. They are saying "This federal mandate would threaten the safety of our communities by putting loaded guns in the hands of people who are too dangerous to qualify for a local permit." (Sebastian does a good job examining this in the context of Philadelphia.)  Moreover, this ad was signed by 600 mayors from around the country.

That many mayors sounds impressive until you start digging deeper. There are six mayors from North Carolina that signed the ad. They include:

Mark Chilton, Carrboro, North Carolina
Mark Kleinschmidt, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Bill Bell, Durham, North Carolina
John L. Cowan, East Spencer, North Carolina
Charles Meeker, Raleigh, North Carolina
Victor Varela, Ronda, North Carolina

The mayors of Carrboro and Chapel Hill would sign anything that was liberal or anti-gun. Their voters are either college professors, university staff, or college students with a smattering of well-to-do retirees tossed into the mix.

I will grant that Raleigh and Durham are the second and fourth largest North Carolina cities. They have also had a very large influx of migrants from New York and New Jersey who have brought their anti-gun biases with them.

This leaves us with East Spencer and Ronda.

East Spencer has a population of 1,534 and is over 80% African-American. Contrast that with the adjoining town of Spencer which has a similar population but is over 70% white. It is unfortunately obvious that these two towns were separately incorporated due to racial considerations. Unfortunate, too, is that many African-American politicians purposely ignore the racist roots of gun control.

Then there is the town of Ronda in Wilkes County which has all of 455 people living within its town limits.

All told, these mayors represent 7.5% of the population of North Carolina and only two of its major cities. Why should either Richard Burr or Kay Hagan pay any attention to these six mayors given how few people they actually represent?

The slogan of this campaign - "Stop the Washington gun lobby and their allies in Congress from taking away your state’s right to decide who can carry a concealed gun" is reminiscent of what the racial segregationists were saying in the 1940s and 50s. It could just as easily be rewritten to read "stop the Washington civil rights lobby and their allies in Congress from taking away your state's right to decide if black people should be allowed to eat at whites-only lunch counters". We are dealing with civil rights in both instances. The Second Amendment is an enumerated civil right and includes the right to self-protection and self-defense. It is a shame that so many mayors want to keep their citizens disarmed and servile just like the segregationist mayors of the Jim Crow South.

Quote Of The Day

The gun prohibitionists would have you think that the influence of the NRA and other gun rights organizations extends to the enforcement of gun laws. In a thread on CleanUpATF.org, ATF whistle-blower Vincent Cefalu says it ain't so.

Stop whining about the big bad NRA wont let us do our job, and go do it. I don't care what the NRA, GOA or any other partisan group thinks or doesn't think about the laws we enforce. They are the law of the land until Congress changes it. Its a convenient excuse that they wont let us do our job. I have NEVER been hindered, and that statement is supported by an ATF 100% conviction rate over 24 years.

The Nightline Whitewash

Jake Tapper devoted all of one question to Operation Fast and Furious in his "exclusive" interview with President Obama. Frankly it was a softball question asking Obama's response when he learned of it. You could have gotten a tougher question coming out of a group of Obama supporters at townhall meeting.

ABC has made the transcripts available and the question and answer is below:

Tapper: Just to change the subject from the economy, the "Fast and Furious" controversy. Aside from some of the more wild charges out there, this is a big scandal. The Justice Department, the ATF was moving guns and some of them were tied to crime scenes. what was your response when you first heard about it?

Obama: Well I heard about it from the news reports. This is not something we were aware of in the White House and the Attorney General it turns out wasn't aware of either. Obviously Eric Holder has launched a full investigation of this, it is not acceptable for us to allow guns to go into Mexico. Our whole goal has been to interdict aggressively in the flow of weapons and cash flowing south into Mexico because the Mexican president, President Calderon, has done a heroic job of trying to take on these transnational drug cartels. So this investigation will be complete, people who have screwed up will be held accountable but our overarching goal consistently has been to say we've got a responsibility not only to stop drugs from flowing north, we've also got a responsibility to make sure we are not helping to either arm or finance these drug cartels in Mexico. So it's very upsetting to me to think that somebody showed such bad judgment that they would allow something like that to happen and we will find out who and what happened in this situation and make sure it gets corrected.

I'll let you make your own judgement as to the truthfulness and adequacy of that answer.

UPDATE: Mike Vanderboegh has an interesting post on the whole whitewash attempt here on his blog. It makes interesting reading.

Obama To ABC News - "People ..Will Be Held Accountable"

Jake Tapper, White House correspondent for ABC News, has been traveling with President Obama on his road trip through North Carolina and Virginia. He is reporting that Obama is vowing that those responsible will be held accountable.

As the Justice Department investigates how U.S. guns were allowed to flow illicitly into Mexico under the watchful eyes of federal agents, President Obama said today in an exclusive interview with ABC News that “people who have screwed up will be held accountable.”

“Our overarching goal consistently has been to say we’ve got a responsibility not only to stop drugs from flowing north, we’ve also got a responsibility to make sure we are not helping to either arm or finance these drug cartels in Mexico,” Obama said in the interview with ABC News senior White House correspondent Jake Tapper that will air on “Nightline.”

“It’s very upsetting to me to think that somebody showed such bad judgment that they would allow something like that to happen,” he said. “And we will find out who and what happened in this situation and make sure it gets corrected.”

It is worth remembering that President Obama said he had "complete confidence" in Attorney General Eric Holder in a news conference on October 6th. Obama also has a history of throwing people under the bus when it advances his cause or protects his interests.

I have been pondering something Mike Vanderboegh wrote less than two weeks ago when he compared the defense of Operation Fast and Furious to that of Stalingrad. You could take Obama's "complete confidence" statement on Holder to be the equivalent of Hitler's promotion of General Paulus to Field Marshall. Hitler promoted Paulus to inspire him to fight harder and one can sense Obama made his statement for similar reasons. But just like the Battle of Stalingrad wasn't about Paulus, ultimately Project Gunwalker isn't about Eric Holder.

Any scandal defense is like a military defense in depth, with successive lines, hedgehogs and mutually supporting fires. Avatar is quite correct. The winter campaign fight for Holder's Ridge will be desperate and designed to distract from the strategic positions behind it: the Homeland Security Line, the FBI hedgehog, the State Department schwerpunkt and the White House command and control center.

Question: Do y'all understand who is turning over these documents that are so damning to Holder and his henchmen? The White House, of course. And why would they be doing that? To make you think that Holder's Ridge is the key position in the over-all battle. It is not.

So as you read the increasingly bad headlines for Holder, keep in mind that he is being kept in place for a reason -- to distract the investigation from the really culpable conspirators at the top.

You have to ask yourself why, when he is so focused on his jobs program, does President Obama feels the need to speak out about Operation Fast and Furious. And why to Jake Tapper of ABC News? While not in the same league as Sharyl Attkisson of CBS or William LaJeunesse of Fox, Tapper has asked some "impertinent" questions about Fast and Furious at White House press conferences. Given this administration's policy of punishing those in the media who don't toe the party line, why are they not giving it to one of the sycophants from NBC or MSNBC?

While I don't fully understand the White House's strategy on this but I will say I don't trust it and feel it is linked to continuing the coverup of the scandal as well as limiting the exposure of the White House.

On CCW Rules For Wisconsin

Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) reluctantly approved the emergency rule promulgated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice concerning training for the state's concealed carry permit. With concealed carry going into effect on November 1st, his feeling that not approving it would delay the right of Wisconsinites to carry concealed.

Cam Edwards has an interview with Brent Gardner, the NRA-ILA State Liaison for Wisconsin, about the emergency rule and concealed carry in the state.




The NRA-ILA released a statement about the emergency rule on Saturday which took exception to it and vowed to work to change it in the permanent rule process.

Governor Scott Walker reluctantly approved the Emergency Concealed Carry Rules promulgated by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ). While the Governor has many of the same concerns that were expressed by NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox in his letter to Attorney General Van Hollen, he understandably did not want to further delay the ability of citizens of Wisconsin to carry concealed handguns for self-defense. His rejection of the Emergency Rules would have resulted in a significant delay on implementation of the new law that takes effect on November 1.

Governor Walker stated, “We’re hopeful that the Department of Justice improves the permanent rules substantially before sending them to the Administration and the legislature for approval.” The NRA will continue to work with the state legislature to ensure that this happens.

Unfortunately, DOJ has chosen to overstep its authority by imposing conditions on prospective concealed weapons license applicants that the legislature never adopted or intended. As part of the Executive Branch of state government, DOJ’s role is to faithfully implement the laws adopted by the legislature, not dramatically change them. If the Emergency Rules are allowed to become permanent, they will set a dangerous precedent that perverts our system of government and its principles associated with the separation of powers.

When the Legislature adopted Act 35, the concealed weapons law, two provisions were very clear. There was to be no minimum number of hours of firearms training required in order to satisfy the training mandate and any qualifying firearms training or safety class that a prospective applicant has taken at any time in the past would be accepted.

Through its Emergency Rules, the DOJ has effectively negated both of these provisions. First, the Rules require a minimum of four hours of training. Both houses of the legislature contemplated amendments that would have required a minimum number of hours of training and specific curriculum. These amendments were rejected.

Secondly, DOJ had deviated from the examples set by other states with virtually identical statutory language by micromanaging the information that must be provided on training certificates submitted by applicants. No training certificates anywhere in the country contain the information that the Wisconsin DOJ demands. This renders all existing certificates insufficient for submission with a citizen’s license application. DOJ could have easily established a system that would have allowed existing training certificates to be submitted while ensuring that the requirements of the concealed weapons law are met.

It is now time for you to act! The Emergency Rules will now be sent to the legislature for approval or rejection. Please contact your state representative and senator and ask that they reject the Emergency Rules and work to ensure that that the permanent rules ultimately reflect the clear letter of the law and the legislature’s intent. In the meantime, the Emergency Rules will remain in effect so as to ensure that there is no delay in the November 1 implementation of this essential new law.

Hick Vote?

Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren who is running for the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) said in an interview she is "going for the hick vote."




Warren, who has taught at Harvard Law for the past 17 years, was born in Oklahoma. According to Politico, she referred to herself as an "elite hick". I'd be tempted to just go with elitist especially given the way she looked over her glasses and down her nose at Scott Brown for posing in the nude for Cosmo to help pay for  college.

The Massachusetts GOP quickly responded.

But Massachusetts GOP Communications Director Tim Buckley had a different position.

“Professor Warren’s insulting use of the word ‘hick’ offers a revealing prism into her elitist and arrogant worldview. Massachusetts voters deserve an explanation about just who Professor Warren was referring to when she spoke of winning the ‘hick vote.’”

Checking her campaign website, she makes no mention of her stance on the Second Amendment. However, she says she is for green energy development and making it easier for workers to organize. Somehow I don't think her stance on the Second Amendment would be the same as Massachusetts gun bloggers JayG or Weer'd Beard.

If You Aren't Impressed By Gen 4 Glocks, You'll Love This

Glock Gen 4 Design Meeting
by: beltjones



H/T Stephen Wenger

Garbage In, Garbage Out

CBS News is reporting that a study from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that President Obama had gotten more negative media coverage than any other 2012 presidential candidate over the past five months.

Pew found that Mr. Obama was the subject of negative assessments nearly four times as often as he was the subject of positive assessments. It found he received "positive" coverage nine percent of the time, "neutral" coverage 57 percent of the time and "negative" coverage 34 percent of the time.

Pardon me if I am skeptical of this study and of their definition of media. It claims to have drawn from over 11,500 news outlets "including local and national broadcasts, news websites and blogs."

The study used the amount of attention a candidate received and the "tone of that coverage." They put the tone into positive, neutral, and negative categories. According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, they used the following methodology.

To assess the tone of coverage, PEJ researchers then employed computer algorithmic software from Crimson Hexagon. Researchers conducted a tone analysis and then “trained” the algorithm to follow the same rules as they had themselves. PEJ also conducted inter-coder tests to ensure the computer coding was replicable and valid by comparing human coding to the results derived by the algorithm. The project also had different people build the algorithms separately to ensure that they were achieving consistent results. Each computer algorithm was then additionally tested for reliability by having multiple researchers review the content assessed and the results.

The tone analysis was conducted on two different samples. The first was of the coverage and commentary on more than 11,500 news outlets, based on their RSS feeds. While the content is text based, the material on various television news sites often closely resembled the stories that had aired on television, and in some cases were exact transcripts. The second was from hundreds of thousands of blogs. (Facebook and Twitter feeds were not included after researchers found that the political assessment offered there was typically quite brief or referred to blog or news content.)

Anytime you use a computer algorithm, it is susceptible to tampering and tweaking regardless of the so-called safeguards that the researchers supposedly employed. It goes back to that old saying about computers, if you put garbage in, you'll get garbage out.

The study does acknowledge that blogs are more critical of candidates than other new media outlets. This I would believe. However, the general results from this study lump blogs in with the rest of the media. In relation to the coverage of Obama, this will tend to raise the negatives while hiding the generally uncritical reporting on Obama by the mainstream media. Digging deeper into this study, you find that blogs on both ends of the political spectrum are harsher towards Obama than the news media in general. However, the study does not include a similar breakout for the mainstream media like they do for blogs. In other words, you cannot compare the tone of coverage given by blogs with that of the mainstream media.

Reports such as these that "show" more negative coverage of Obama lets the mainstream media get away with their fawning and generally uncritical reporting on him. If the mainstream media were actually taking a negative approach towards Obama, you would see in-depth, critical stories hammering his administration over Project Gunwalker. As it is, you have Sharyl Attkisson at CBS, William LaJeunesse at Fox, and sometimes Richard Solarno at the LA Times writing about it. The New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC, CNN, ABC, and the rest of the elite media would just as soon not write about Project Gunwalker. They'd rather focus on the astro-turfed Occupy Wall Street nonsense.

Is The FBI Suppressing Evidence?

In a follow-up to this morning's Face The Nation interview of Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) about Operation Fast and Furious, CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson reports that the committee will be asking for more information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Issa said this morning that the family of Agent Terry was told by agents attending his funeral that there were three firearms found at the murder scene.

Documents released to the committee only mentioned two weapons linked to Operation Fast and Furious. Issa wants to know more about the third weapon and what tests from it have shown. Recordings from conversations between ATF Agent Hope McAllister and the owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company seem to indicate there was a third firearm and that it was an SKS.

Issa On Face The Nation

If you missed seeing Rep. Darrell Issa and CBS Investigative Reporter Sharyl Attkisson on CBS's Face The Nation this morning, here it is courtesy of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's YouTube page.



One of the key things that Issa said was that the Committee's subpoenas to the Department of Justice were narrowly focused. He goes on to say that in many cases they already have e-mails and memos provided to them by whistle-blowers but want the original documents from the Department of Justice and/or White House to confirm their authenticity. This goes along with what Dave Hardy wrote earlier this week about the subpoena in Of Arms and The Law.

I was happy to see that CBS featured Project Gunwalker on their Sunday news show Face The Nation. While I would have wanted more questions asked (and answered), the mere fact that it was on this program underscores its growing importance in Washington. We in the blogosphere and in the gun rights community have always recognized this but having it shown on one of the premier mainstream media programs confirms it to the general public.

I Always Knew Barney The Purple Dinosaur Was Evil

And this video from DC Caller proves that Barney is behind the Occupy Wall Street agitprop events.

Quote Of The Day

From a Tweet by Amanda Carpenter regarding the economy and jobs:

Stop asking politicians to create jobs. Start asking employers "What could the gov't do to make it easier to hire?"

Ms. Carpenter was formerly with the Washington Times and is now communications director for Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)

Sunday Morning Hodge-Podge

I normally don't watch CBS's Face The Nation with Bob Schieffer because he drives me nuts. Today, I will make an exception. The topic for discussion will be on Project Gunwalker.

Coming Up on Face the Nation

Topic: "Fast and Furious" gunwalker case
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Chairman, Oversight & Government Reform Committee

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., Ranking Member, Oversight & Government Reform Committee

Sharyl Attkisson, CBS News Investigative Correspondent

It airs at 10:30 am Eastern. As they say, check your local listings for times in your area.

I don't think I can overstate the importance of this. Face The Nation along with NBC's Meet the Press, ABC's This Week, and Fox's Fox News Sunday is the type of program where major issues are discussed with the aim of influencing policymakers. Usually the topics revolve around taxes, jobs, the economy, and war. To have them discuss Project Gunwalker is evidence that at least CBS News is recognizing that it is a critical scandal for the Obama Administration. Moreover, it also makes it harder for the rest of the mainstream media to keep burying the story.

In gun blogging news, it is time to welcome a new gun blog called Shall Not Be Questioned. It really isn't so much a new blog as a rebranded blog. It is the old Snowflakes In Hell blog with a new name, new look, and a new feel. That said, it will still be a gun blog run by Sebastian. He has this to say about why he is making the change.

But the biggest change you’ll probably notice, unless I can’t make my idea for it work (I’m a horrible graphic artist), is a name change for the blog. With the exception of the name, and a new look and feel, it’ll be the same blog. Same posts, same archives, and same comments as always. If links worked before, they’ll still work. I am looking at implementing a few requested enhancements people asked for.

I picked the name “Snowflakes in Hell” hastily, never thinking I’d keep this up. Ever since I passed the 1000 visitors a day mark, I’ve hated it. I’ve also hated it when I introduce myself as a blogger, and I get a weird look from the uninitiated when I tell them the name. Rather than talking about the blog, I get to spend the first 10 minutes explaining the name. I’ve also, rather humorously, heard people that did not know I was Sebastian mention they found something on this site “Snowflakes in Hell,” but they didn’t understand what kind of site it was. With my name and theme, who can blame them? I want a theme and a name that draws people in. I think a more relevant name and theme will be necessary to take this blog to the next level, and continue to grow my audience, and improve my brand.

I've updated by my gun blog links here to reflect the changeover. Having visited Shall Not Be Questioned, I think Sebastian has done a masterful job with the new look and feel. The typeface and background give it a Colonial period look which says to me the fight for freedom has been going on for over two hundred years.

Good luck to Sebastian and Bitter with the "new" blog.

Finally, over at Sipsey Street Irregulars, Mike Vanderboegh has a post on selective White House document releases. It appears to be an effort to shift blame for gunwalking back to the Bush Administration. However, it looks like it will end up rebounding on them.

You know, the best disinformation is a lie wrapped in a kernel of truth. Recall that early on the DOJ floated the excuse that "gun walking" was all Newell's idea. We pooh-poohed that at the time, saying that Newell did not have the authority to make this multi-jurisdictional anti-law enforcement cluster coital situation happen.

But the Obama flacks knew what they were talking about, as far as it went.

Gunwalking WAS Bill Newell's idea, and nobody knew that better than the people he sold the idea to.

And now, thanks to the desperate and incompetent folks at the White House scandal deflection team, we have more details of the early experiences of William "Gunwalker Bill" Newell, the guy who sold the whole idea to the people in the White House -- who then began to make things happen to try to make the Ninety Percent Myth come true.

Make sure to read the whole post. It ties a lot of stuff together.

Quote Of The Day

Reuben Navarette, Jr. is a columnist and former journalist who gets it when it comes to Operation Fast and Furious aka Project Gunwalker. As he notes in an opinion piece published yesterday at CNN.com, this scandal is about dead Mexicans.

Frankly, I am surprised by Holder's use of words such as "irresponsible" and "inflammatory." What could be more irresponsible than allowing weapons to be smuggled into a foreign country, weapons that then wind up killing the citizens of that country? And what could be more inflammatory than appearing to cover up such an operation and distancing oneself from it as staffers allegedly yell, scream and curse at reporters who are just doing their jobs?

And what was the purpose of these alleged theatrics? Was all this huffing and puffing intended to get Attkisson to back off the story? Brilliant.

As a former reporter, let me give the administration a tip: Attacking journalists is usually as effective in stamping out a story as gasoline is in putting out a fire.

Firearm Retention In Close Quarters

In another of the training videos put out by NSSF, Gunsite Rangemaster Charlie McNeese shows to how to draw your pistol and go into the retention position. He goes into detail on how to avoid pistol malfunctions while in the retention position.

A Good Company Doing Good

There are good companies and then there are good companies doing good. Crimson Trace falls into the latter category with their support for the SEAL-NSW Family Foundation.

Nammo Talley and Crimson Trace Join Forces for SEAL – NSW Family Foundation Fundraiser

(Wilsonville, OR) Crimson Trace Corp (CTC) and Nammo Talley, Inc. have joined together to help raise awareness and solicit donations on behalf of the upcoming benefit event for the SEAL – NSW Family Foundation being held on November 3, 2011.

This fundraising event is being held in San Diego to benefit the families of the United States Navy SEALS. As advocates of the SEAL Foundation’s mission of providing immediate and ongoing support and assistance to the Naval Special Warfare community and their families, both companies are inviting donations from their industry friends in order to hold a live and silent auction to raise funds for the foundation. In addition to CTC and Nammo Talley, will be attended by Leatherman, Benchmade, MRS and Danner

CTC Defense director Dale Suzuki appealed to the firearms community for goods and services. “We’re acutely aware of the contributions the special forces community make in the service of their country. Since the loss of 38 service members in August, the Seal Foundation has been focused on supporting the families of the bereaved. Now it’s our turn to help them.”

Deliberately Obtuse

Ranking Minority Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is being deliberately obtuse in his criticism of the Committee's subpoena of Attorney General Eric Holder.

Washington, D.C. (Oct. 12, 2011)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued a statement in response to a subpoena issued by Chairman Darrell E. Issa to the Department of Justice for tens of thousands of pages of documents.

“As I have said all along, Fast and Furious was a terrible mistake with tragic consequences,” said Cummings. “The Committee is right to investigate what went wrong and why, but we must do so in a fair and responsible manner.”

“This subpoena is a deep-sea fishing expedition and a gross abuse of the Committee’s authority. It demands tens of thousands of pages of highly sensitive law enforcement and national security materials that have never been requested before and are completely unrelated to Operation Fast and Furious,” said Cummings. “Rather than legitimate fact-gathering, this looks more like a political stunt.”

The 22 categories of subpoenaed documents include:

•weekly reports to the Attorney General that are completely unrelated to Operation Fast and Furious and contain some of the nation’s most sensitive law enforcement and national security information;
•communications between the Department of Justice and the White House press office about White House press events; and
•documents related to confidential informants who provided information about the operations of a leading Mexican drug cartel, the production of which could put the lives of those informants and their families in grave jeopardy, according to the FBI.

The Department of Justice has produced thousands of pages of documents to the Committee and continues to produce documents on a regular basis. Ranking Member Cummings has asked the Department to cooperate fully with the Committee’s investigation.

Would those be the same documents delivered to the committee that have been so utterly redacted that they look like a black inkspot?

Mr. Cummings obviously believes his job is not to serve the American people in the search for the truth but rather to protect the Obama Administration in this investigation. As Dave Hardy noted regarding the subpoena, it is "specific enough to show the committee knows details about who wrote to whom." I think Mr. Cummings does understand just how bad those details are and is doing his damnedest to prevent their exposure.

Emily Gets Her Gun Series

Emily Miller is a senior editor at the Washington Times. She also lives within the District of Columbia and wants to have a handgun for self-protection. In a series of articles, Ms. Miller is finding out just how hard it is to obtain a handgun in the District of Columbia. If it is this hard for someone who presumably is well connected, just imagine how hard it is for ordinary people to obtain the tools for self-defense in the District of Columbia.

Beginning of the quest.

Inside DC's Gun Registry Office.

Interview with Charles Sykes - DC's only gun dealer.

In this interview with Cam Edwards of NRA News, Ms. Miller describes her encounter with the Gun Registry Office.



Below is Cam Edwards' interview on Tuesday with Ms. Miller for NRA News in which she describes meeting Mr. Sykes.

I Like A Company With Humor

Brownells is getting on the Zombie bandwagon and doing it with a lot of humor. They have a set up a special webpage just in anticipation of the Zombie Apocalypse. Or maybe it is just because All Hallow's Eve is almost upon us.

The newly formed Brownells Center For Zombie Awareness (CZA) was created, as company President Pete Brownell said, "...because we all know the Zombie outbreak is coming and we want our customers to be educated, equipped and ready to engage the undead."

"Halloween is a well-known time for the recently deceased to become re-animated," Brownell continued, "and the CZA will play a vital role in winning the coming Zombie apocalypse. That's why we urge all concerned citizens to visit the CZA site immediately."

Videos to help educate the still-living and products to help them fend off the hordes can be found at www.brownells.com/zombie with special deals to save money while protecting the neighborhood.

At Brownells everything is guaranteed period! ...Forever, 100%, with no restocking fees. Founded in 1939, they supply more than 50,000 firearms parts, accessories, gunsmithing tools and ammunition to armorers, gunsmiths, and shooters worldwide. Brownells provides free tech help and there's no minimum order size or small order fees. However, the company will not ship products to those infected with the Zombie virus. To place an order, or for more information, call 800-741-0015 or visit www.brownells.com and mention code PIL

I just watched their video and its a hoot.  Like I said, I like a company with humor - and lots of gun parts!

Holder Subpoenaed!

Mike at Sipsey Street Irregulars has a copy of the subpoena and it is very, very detailed. Congressional investigators obviously know what they are looking for and who has the info.

The question remains whether or not the DOJ and the Obama White House will comply with the subpoena. If I were a betting man, I would say not and it will end up in the courts.

They're Baaaack!

If you were a slacker and didn't order a Gunwalker T-shirt when Sean made them available, you are in luck. Sean Sorrentino has announced a third run of the famous Gunwalker T-shirt.

I’ve been getting a few inquiries, along with a steady trickle of hits on the Gunwalker T-Shirts. I think now is the time to open the orders again.

Orders open now. Orders close on the first of November. It’s generally a 7-10 day turnaround at the printer, added to about 3 days for shipping and you can expect your shirt in hand by 15 November.

Go to Sean's site for pricing and to order.

These are the perfect T-shirts to wear to Congressional hearings, Occupy Wall Street counter-demonstrations, or, in my case, Presidential visits to your town.

Browning Introduces A "New" Auto-5 Shotgun

The Browning Auto-5 was an iconic shotgun with its humpback action. Designed by John Moses Browning and produced by FN in Belgium and later by Miroku in Japan, it uses the gun's own recoil to cycle the action.

In addition to the Auto-5 made by Browning, Remington used the same design to make its Model 11 shotgun from 1911 through 1948. Browning ended production of the Auto-5 in 1998 with over 3 million made since its introduction in 1903.

Lovers of the Auto-5 can rejoice now as Browning has just announced they are reintroducing the Auto-5. However, it is not the same Auto-5 that your grandfather used in the duck blind. Browning has changed the long recoil action to a short recoil action that they are calling the Kinematic Drive System. According to The Firearm Blog, this short recoil system is very similar to Benelli's patented Inertia recoil system.

Alex Robinson from Outdoor Life has this review of the "new" Auto-5 which he and other gun writers had a chance to try earlier this fall.



Outdoor Life also has a picture essay on the Auto-5 here.

Browning has posted details on the new Auto-5 here. It will be available in both a traditional wood and a synthetic stocked version (black and camo).

GAUGE : 1 2 -- 2 3/4" to 3" chamber
RECEIVER Strong, lightweight aluminum alloy
BARREL Lightweight profile • Flat, ventilated rib
ACTION 3" chamber • Recoil operated Kinematic Drive is ultra-reliable and cycles a wide range of loads
STOCK Shim adjustable for length of pull, cast and drop
FEATURES Vector Pro™ lengthened forcing cone • Three Invector-DS™ choke tubes • Inflex II Technology recoil pad • Brass front bead sight • Ivory mid-bead sight • One ¼" stock spacer and one 1⁄2" stock spacer, plus lengthened screws for total adjustment of 3⁄4"

The shotgun will weigh between 7 lbs 3 0z. and 7 lbs. 7 oz. depending on the length of the barrel. Below is the Browning teaser announcement on the new Auto-5. MSRP will be range from $1,399 to $1,559 and delivery is expected in Spring 2012.



I have both a Remington 11 in 16 gauge and a Browning Sweet-16. Of the two, the Browning is the nicer shotgun in terms of fit and finish.

The Sweet-16 belonged to the Complementary Spouse's late father and is missing its buttstock. If anyone knows where I can find a replacement buttstock at a reasonable price, please let me know by e-mail (jpr9954@gmail.com) or in the comments.

A Little Touchy, Are We?

In today's news conference, when Eric Holder was asked about Operation Fast and Furious he gave a quick answer and then stalked off.

I wonder if Tracy Schmaler will now contact the reporter who had the guts to ask the real question and start yelling at him. Probably so.

Trijicon SRS Red Dot

Rob Curtis at the Gear Scout Blog has a review of a new red dot sight put out by Trijicon. The SRS or Sealed Reflex Sight tested was a pre-production model. He says he expects it to hit the market in February 2012 after the SHOT Show.




The most interesting feature about the SRS in my opinion is the solar panel on the top of the sight. In daylight it powers the sight saving the battery for after dark hours.

Go to Rob's blog for more details on this sight as well as pictures from every angle.

Quote Of The Day

On Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder sent a long and petulant letter to a number of Congressional leaders on Operation Fast and Furious. Today, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, responded back. The closing paragraph is the quote of the day.

Operation Fast and Furious was the Department's most significant gun trafficking case. It related to two of your major initiatives – destroying the Mexican cartels and reducing gun violence on both sides of the border. On your watch, it went spectacularly wrong. Whether you realize yet or not, you own Fast and Furious. It is your responsibility.

Jerry Finally Makes Up His Mind

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) finally made up his mind on a slate of firearms-related bills that required either his signature or his veto. He did it on the last day that he could make a decision.  He signed four bills and vetoed one. As to the impact, the result is mixed for California gun owners.

Let's start with the veto. Brown vetoed SB 427 which would have forbidden mail order shipments of certain ammunition to California. In his veto message, he noted:

This measure would amend a recently enacted law concerning the sale and purchase of handgun ammunition. That law is currently being litigated.

Let's keep our powder dry on amendments until the court case runs its course.

Now to what he signed.

SB 610 amends the California carry application process in such a way as to require sheriffs to make the determination on whether the applicant shows "good cause" before the applicant has gone through the required training process. Thus, the applicant is saved the cost of going through training only to find out he or she is going to be denied for a carry permit. This was a CalGuns backed measure.

AB 144 is the bill that got most of the attention because it would outlaw unloaded open carry. It was introduced by Assemblyman Anthony Portatino (D-Pasadena). There had been a concerted effort by many gun groups to get Gov. Brown to veto this bill as it outlaws the only mode of carry available to most Californians. In that sense it is bad. However, signing this bill may in a counter-intuitive way be to our advantage especially when it comes to moving California forward to becoming a shall-issue state.

In Peruta v. San Diego, U.S. District Court Judge Irma Gonzalez cited the exceptions that would allow the plaintiff, Edward Peruta, to have armed self-defense outside the home. One of those exceptions under California law was unloaded open carry. Because of this, she felt justified in denying Mr. Peruta the ability to obtain a concealed carry permit. With Gov. Brown's signing AB 144, this exception is now removed. The case was appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the foreclosing of this option could well have an impact upon the case.

AB 809 now requires the registration of long guns in California starting in 2014. Handguns are currently required to be registered and this bill sponsored by Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-LA) extends it to all guns. In a signing statement attached to this bill, Gov. Brown noting that the state already requires a background check on all firearm purchases but only retains it with regard to handguns, said, "I see no reason why the state should not also retain information pertaining to the sales of long guns."

Finally, SB 819 sponsored by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) expands the use of the fee charged in the dealer record of sale (DROS) process. From the analysis of the bill provided by the legislature:

Provides that the Department of Justice (DOJ) may use dealer record of sale (DROS) funds for costs associated with its firearms-related regulatory and enforcement activities regarding the possession, as well as the sale, purchase, loan, or transfer, of firearms, as specified.

In essence, SB 819 changes the DROS fee into a tax because it will now be used for purposes beyond activities related to just the sale and transfer of a firearm. The fee is already being challenged in Federal court by the CRPA/NRA Legal Project in the case of Harris v. Bauer and this will only help the case.

California gun attorney Clint Montfort had this to say about the bills on the CalGuns forum. He is an associate with Chuck Michel in Michel & Associates.

The DROS bill will necessarily and immediately be challenged in the NRA's Harris v. Bauer case. If anyone doesn't understand the DROS issue or SB 819, I recommend reading the NRA's alert in that case on www.calgunlaws.com or reading the complaint in that case.

Everyone knows how AB 144 will be used agaist the other side in the current LTC cases (SAF/CGF & NRA/CRPAF).

SB 427 was vetoed as a result of the NRA's Parker v. CA case from last year that overturned AB 962 and is currently being appealed.

Obviously it certainly would have been nice if AB 809 wasn't signed. But at the end of the day, two of the three bills that were signed aren't the end of the world. They become part of litigation that was already set in motion. So while those cases are litigated, enjoy purchasing all of your ammo over the internet and in stores without leaving a thumbprint. Lets see how litigation plays out regarding long gun registration.

The pro 2A bill on his desk was signed.