I Wouldn't Be Bragging About This

I got an email a day or so ago from the people that run Guns & Ammo magazine and their website. They seem to be thrilled that their website gets a cameo in the movie Terminator Genisys.




At about the 0:25 mark, Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator says he read about a weapon at gunsandammo.com.

While he was governor of California, Mr. Schwarzenegger signed the unworkable micro-stamping bill into law as well as supported other gun control. Even Guns & Ammo themselves back in 2012 called Arnold one of Hollywood's surprising anti-gun celebrities.

It is like the people at G&A have no memory about Schwarzenegger's positions or even what they themselves said about him.

I don't know if Elmer Keith or Jeff Cooper are rolling in their graves but I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

Metcalf Responds

The mainstream media has now officially taken notice of the Guns & Ammo/Metcalf controversy. The Complementary Spouse was watching ABC's Gun Good Morning America a few minutes ago and saw a news scroll that read "Editor of Guns & Ammo Magazine Resigns After Publishing Column Pushing For Gun Control". The controversy has also caught the eye of the New York Times, The Atlantic, HuffPo, New York Magazine, CNN, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Media Matters for America. Their articles are full of tut-tutting about the intolerance of gun owners for any dissent. As Miguel points out, Metcalf's article made him the "new darling of the anti gun groups."

Jim Shepherd, publisher of The Outdoor Wire, in a rather classy move asked Dick Metcalf to respond. He did and Jim has published his response. I will leave it to you to read rather than summarizing it.

After reading his response I'm still not clear on what Metcalf hoped to accomplish with his original column. As to why he wrote it, I'm voting for Stockholm Syndrome.

UPDATE:  The Metcalf response has drawn some equally strong counter-responses.

Bitter at Shall Not Be Infringed does an excellent job at taking it apart bit by bit.

It’s as if he doesn’t even comprehend that those “voices” are the very customers and readers of Guns & Ammo and purchasers of the firearms products advertised in the pages. Not everyone may be a subscriber, but they are all part of the target market.

The industry is shifting. The markets are adapting. The audience, as a whole, is more sophisticated. I think the evidence suggests that it’s Metcalf who isn’t ready to have a serious discussion on these topics, not his audience.

Michael Bane terms it lame.

This is not, as Bitter so lucidly notes, a "free speech" issue. Let me go a step farther than that...as I noted in my earlier post, we have been having a "dialog" about the role of firearms in American society at least as long as I've been alive. IMHO, the "dialog" ended when the war began.

Let me say this again...we are at war with a segment of society whose sole goal is total civilian disarmament. We are not in a dialog. We are not in a debate. We are not in a healthy give-and-take in the Cornell University academic lounge. The primary weapon used by our blood enemies is the Big Lie.

Lest it be forgotten, Michael was in the front lines of this war in Colorado. He has seen the Big Lie used against those of us who believe in freedom time and time again.

Bob Owens at Bearing Arms notes that Metcalf's response seems more incoherent than his original column.

North Carolina Is No. 27. Why Not No. 1?

The title to this post is reminiscent of the debates in North Carolina politics about teacher pay or student achievement. However, in this case it refers to where the state of North Carolina ranked in Guns and Ammo's ranking of the states for concealed carry. North Carolina came in at the 27th position virtually tied with Minnesota. This ranked North Carolina behind all of our neighboring states except for Virginia which was ranked 32nd. (correction: VA ranks 11th and it is West Virginia that ranks 32nd)

The rankings were based upon such criteria as cost, training hours, method of permit issuance, reciprocity, the existence of a castle doctrine, and how gun friendly the state was. This was used to create an aggregate score. The scoring criteria is below. The editors of G&A are quick to point out that no state is perfect but some states (and the District of Columbia) are pretty bad. DC, by the way, ranked as a zero which shouldn't surprise anyone who has ever read the work of Emily Miller.

To determine the best concealed carry states in 2013, we examined the following criteria and assigned numerical values to each category for a maximum of 100 points.

Permit Issuance: States were awarded up to 25 points based on their method of issuance.
Permitless/Unrestricted = 25 Points
Shall-Issue = 20 points
May-Issue = 5 points
No-Issue/Restricted = 0 points.

Reciprocity: The number of states honored in the issuing state were counted and assigned a maximum of 10 points. Next, the number of states where the issuing state’s permit is honored were counted and assigned a maximum of 10 points. The two totals were then added together for a maximum of 20 points.

Number of Permits Honored in the Issuing State
0 States = 0 Points
1-10 States = 2 Points
11-20 States = 4 Points
21-30 States = 6 Points
31-40 States = 8 Points
41-50 States = 10 Points

Number of States Where the Issuing State’s Permit is Honored
0 States = 0 Points
1-10 States = 2 Points
11-20 States = 4 Points
21-30 States = 6 Points
31-40 States = 8 Points
41-50 States = 10 Points

Training Time: Training time was scored based on the minimum number of statutory training hours required, for a maximum of 10 points. States with unrestricted carry automatically earned the maximum number of points.

0 Hours = 10 Points
1-3 Hours = 9 points
4-6 Hours = 8 points
7-9 Hours = 7 points
10-12 Hours = 6 points
13-15 Hours = 5 points
16+ Hours = 0 points

Application Fee: Application fees were scored with a maximum of 10 points based on the statutory cost paid by civilians to their state of residence in order to obtain the permit. Fees were not scored based on renewal or out-of-state permit costs, military/law enforcement/veteran rates or senior citizen discounts. Fees also do not include the cost of any necessary training course(s). States with unrestricted carry automatically earned the maximum number of points.
$0-$25 = 10 points
$26-50 = 8 points
$51-75 = 6 points
$76-100 = 4 points
$101-150 = 2 points
$150+ = 0 points

Stand Your Ground/Castle Doctrine: States’ scores were determined based on how strong their law is regarding self-defense in and out of the home, and whether you’re immune from civil prosecution in a self-defense situation. Maximum of 10 points.

Best States for Gun Owners in 2013: To Best determine how generally gun friendly the state is, each was awarded up to 10 points based on their overall rank in the Best States for Gun Owners in 2013.
Ranks 1-10 = 10 points
Ranks 11-20 = 8 points
Ranks 21-30 = 6 points
Ranks 31-40 = 4 points
Ranks 41-50 = 2 points

Duty to Inform: States were awarded points based on whether or not individuals who are legally carrying are required to immediately inform a law enforcement/peace officers they are carrying a gun upon initial contact
. 5 Points = Not required to immediately inform a law enforcement officer.
0 Points = Required to immediately inform a law enforcement officer.

Pre-Emption of Home-Rule: States were awarded points if state laws pre-empt local governing bodies from crafting their own legislation regarding concealed carry. In most states, pre-emption does not include local laws regarding the discharge of firearms within city limits.
5 Points = State laws pre-empt local governing bodies from crafting their own laws.
0 Points = Local governing bodies can make their own laws and are not subject to state pre-emption.

Permit Issued to Non-Residents: States earned points based on their method of issuance to non-residents.
5 Points = Permits are issued on a Shall-Issue basis to non-residents.
2 Points = Permits are issued on a May-Issue basis to non-residents.
0 Points = Permits are not issued to non-residents.

Where North Carolina fell down in the eyes of the G&A editors was on duty to inform and the issuance of non-resident permits. The Tar Heel State actually ranked behind Illinois (No. 42) on those criteria.

Read the whole story and find out where your state ranks on the list. If you ever have to relocate, lists such as this could be helpful in deciding where you want to live.