2nd Amendment

State Police to Shut Down PA Instant Check System, No Firearms Purchases for 3 Days

Sarah Smith — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:59:25 -0400

--Chad Love

Are you a Pennsylvania resident who plans on buying a gun sometime this month? You might want to check with your gun shop before making the drive...

From this story on examiner.com:
The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) announced on Friday, that the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), used by the Pennsylvania State Police, will be taken out of service for three days later this month for a full system replacement. Consequently, this will temporarily restrict the purchase of firearms and negate the ability to obtain criminal history checks.

It's that last bit of news that has more than a few people a little ticked off. And it didn’t take long for them to express just how much...

From this follow-up story on examiner.com:

A complete shutdown of the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS) by the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) for a period of 60 hours later this month for a system upgrade is "inexcusable," the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today. “Closing down the background check system, and thus suspending all firearms transactions and concealed carry license processing simply allows the [PSP] to obstruct the gun rights of law-abiding citizens,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb. “Access to the computers for background checks should not be suspended at all. Surely the [PSP] can find alternate means of processing firearms transactions and permit applications while the upgrade is in progress.”

The system will shut down at 10 p.m. Saturday, May 19 and will remain down until the following Tuesday at 10 a.m.

Thoughts? Reaction? Is it a mere inconvenience, or a de facto (albeit temporary) suspension of the Second Amendment?

More on Preppers

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:10:50 -0400

by David E. Petzal

If you’d really like to depress yourself some evening, watch “Doomsday Preppers” on the National Geographic Channel. The show details the plans of normal, well adjusted people to cope with the aftermath of fiscal collapse, nuclear holocaust, the eruption of Yellowstone, solar flares, and so on.

The New York Times noted with outrage that many of these people were accumulating guns and ammunition in order to defend their 1,500 pounds of MREs and dried brown rice, but stockpiling guns is fine with me. My concern is that most of them seem pretty inexpert with guns. One prepper was counting on a Ruger Number One single-shot which, despite its many splendid qualities, is not what you’d pick to blast the mob at your door. Another managed to shoot off several fingers during a practice session. Yet a third, a resident of the Oligarchy of Bloomberg, took lessons in knife fighting because he was unable to get a gun, ignoring the fact that everyone in the Oligarchy of Bloomberg who wants a gun has one, or several, and when the pistol-waving mob comes to this fellow’s apartment I don’t think that he and his knife will last long.

A dose of reality was interjected into prepping recently when a resident of Washington State, one Peter Keller, shot his wife and daughter to death and then retreated to a heavily fortified bunker which he had spent 8 years digging into a hillside in the woods. The cops found his hole and waited him out. Then, after a 22-hour standoff, they brought in a breeching team and blew the door off his dugout. Inside were copious guns, ammo, body armor, and everything else a good prepper should accumulate. There was also the body of an apparent suicide whom the police believe is Mr. Keller. There went 8 years’ hard work in the time it took a couple of blocks of C-4 to go off.

I have nothing against prepping. I think a certain degree of preparedness is not only worthwhile, but necessary. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, ice storms, and Congress are facts of life that are all too real, and we must be able to deal with the havoc they wreak.

But if you have visions of accumulating tons of .223 ammo and dried corn and toughing it out by yourself after Life as We Know It ceases to exist, I suggest you watch a film called Threads, which was made by the BBC in 1984, and shows what life after a nuclear attack is bound to be like. You will not want to be around after the Big One arrives, your 5,000 rounds of 9mm ammo and food dehydrator notwithstanding.

Is the NRA's Political Power an Illusion?

Sarah Smith — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:03:59 -0400

--Chad Love

Is the National Rifle Association's power on the wane? Please don't beat the messenger, but that seems to be the thrust of a recent blog post from the Economist that argues the NRA's influence on national elections is mostly an illusion and that it's also on the wrong side of changing demographic shifts that in the future will further erode its influence.

"...Paul Waldman, of the American Prospect, has recently argued that the NRA's dominance is a myth. He has looked closely at the figures and writes, “Despite what the NRA has long claimed, it neither delivered Congress to the Republican party in 1994 nor delivered the White House to George W. Bush in 2000.” He also argues that NRA money has no impact on congressional elections, as it spreads its money over so many races, and that NRA endorsements are “almost meaningless” as most go to incumbent Republicans with little chance of losing.

The author also claims that despite an increase in gun sales nationwide, most of those sales are going to, well, old white guys who already have guns, and that the number of actual households with guns has been in a steady decline. The author also cites further demographic shifts toward more urban residents and a smaller percentage of the aforementioned old white dudes.

White males, the gun-loving sector of American society, also make up an increasingly smaller percentage of the population. What the industry actually needs is more Latino, black and female gun enthusiasts. But the NRA isn’t delivering these."

Thoughts? Reaction? Rebuttal?

Guns on Film: Can You Answer These 12 Movie Gun Trivia Questions?

Dave_Maccar — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:33:34 -0400

Let's have a little fun. As is the case for many, the guns I grew up hunting with represent my first real world experience with firearms. But from an even earlier age, my interest in guns was definitely peaked by those I saw in movies. Whether it was to find out what kind of gun a hero or villain carried, or just a desire to know how the gun I saw on the screen really worked, movies provided that spark that made me want to find out more. In a way, guns made me a movie nut, and vice versa. I mean, how can you blame me with toys like this beckoning from the aisles of Kiddie City...yeah, I definitely had this one.

If you can relate, or just want to remember some awesome movie moments, click through this gallery of movie gun trivia questions. On the first slide for each movie, I pose a question about a film character that met his demise in front of a muzzle. It might be about the movie, the guns in the movie, or both. Click to the next slide to see if you're right and learn some fun movie gun facts along the way.

Every film in here is at least a decade old, so there shouldn't be any spoilers for anyone. And if you haven't seen the flicks in this gallery...you should probably turn in your man card anyway. Have fun! --Dave Maccar

Petzal on the Trayvon Martin Shooting

Dave_Maccar — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:56:47 -0400

by David E. Petzal

On April 11, Florida Special Prosecutor Angela B. Corey announced at a press conference that George Zimmerman would be indicted for second-degree murder in the shooting of Trayvon Martin. She prefaced this by informing the world that her team of investigators were fearless defenders of the victim, yet mindful of the rights of the accused; immune to political pressure from anyone; compassionate yet strict; enforcers not of public opinion, but of Justice. She did not say that hers was the greatest assemblage of legal minds since the drafting of the Magna Carta in 1215, but that was probably because she forgot. It reminded me of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote: “The louder he spoke of his virtue, the faster we counted our spoons.”

In all likelihood, we will never know the complete truth about what happened in the death of Trayvon Martin, but I think I can guarantee that whatever took place, George Zimmerman will go to prison.

He is guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, of three counts of SWA—Stupid While Armed—and there is always a penalty for that.

Count One: He chose to carry a gun, despite being prohibited from doing so by the Neighborhood Watch, so he was automatically wrong no matter what happened.

Count Two: When he chose to pursue Martin, despite the police dispatcher’s telling him to stand down, he was automatically wrong, no matter what happened.

Count Three, which rises to Grossly Aggravated SWA: He shot someone who was unarmed. If you’re going to do that, and not go to prison, the guy you shoot had better have your spleen in his hands when you pull the trigger.

But how about the No-Retreat (Stand Your Ground) law? Permit me to quote a judge of my acquaintance.

“The No-Retreat law is a defense available in Florida, but it has to be established by the defendant to the jury’s satisfaction—it’s not an automatic ‘get out of jail free’ card.

"And whether or not the defense will succeed will depend on a lot of factors, especially on the defendant’s ability to establish [by evidence other than his unsupported testimony] that he was justified. This is the cautionary part—better make sure that you can back it up if you’re going to rely on the No-Retreat law. Much better to retreat if you can do so safely.”

So what will happen now? A trial will take place. The verdict will be guilty. Everyone concerned will get their time on camera, as will everyone with a cause connected to the case. It will be written and talked about endlessly. And when this sorry, tiresome dance is done, if I were George Zimmerman, I would be thinking hard about how I wanted to decorate my prison cell.

Fear and Loathing at Canadian Customs

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:06:16 -0400

by David E. Petzal

This took place in the 1990s at an airport in one of Canada’s western provinces, and involved a member of that country’s Immigration Service, which is dedicated to making life as hard for American hunters as it possibly can.

I had been invited to this province by a scope manufacturer to hunt whitetail deer, freeze, and see what great stuff they made. By sheer chance, a few weeks previously, Field & Stream had been visited by a minister of Canada’s Department of Tourism who asked the magazine’s help in persuading sportsmen to visit their country, eh? He left a couple of his cards, and I, in a rare stroke of foresight, kept one.

So I got to the Canadian airport and on the entry card, where it asked whether I was there on business or pleasure, I checked off business, because I was, after all, representing the magazine and was the guest of a manufacturer. This was a mistake.

I was waved into an office where I encountered a member of the Immigration Service who asked if I had a work permit for what I was about to do. No, I said, I was going deer hunting, and if there was any actual work connected with the event it would take place later back in the United States.

“Well,” she said, “I can’t let you in without a work permit.”

I smiled. I was faced with the one chance you get in a lifetime where you get to make them sweat for a change.

I took out the Tourism Minister’s card, laid it on the counter, and explained how I came by it.

“Now,” I said, “since I can’t get in without a permit, and since I have no intention of taking out a permit, I’d like someone to escort me to the baggage claim so I can pick up my rifle, and then to the ticket counter so I can go home. And when I get home the first thing I’m going to do is give Minister So-and-So a call and tell him about our little adventure here. And the second thing I’m going to do is write about this and keep everyone out of Canada that I can. And finally, I think that your life next week is going to be a lot more interesting than it is this week.”

Frantically, the immigration person dragged out a huge book of regulations. I watched smiling, and encouraged her by telling her that she’d better find something in her effing book that would let me into Canada. Finally, she did. I congratulated her on keeping her job, and went on the hunt as scheduled, where I froze, and shot a monster eating whitetail with only three points on either side.

But this happened only once in 40 years of flying with guns. The rest of the time, I have had to put up with various officials’ crap until they became bored with me and moved on to the next hapless traveler.

The Gun Nut Nation Survey 2012

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:42:59 -0400

Sound off, Gun Nuts. Tell us what you love about today’s rifles and shotguns. Tell us what you hate most about the perception of gun owners in the media. Tell us about your hopes and fears concerning a certain election this November. Tell us about what makes you a Gun Nut in the following survey—a collection of questions about the politics, economics, and state of Gun Nut Nation. The results will be published in the July 2012 issue of Field & Stream. Thank you for participating.

Support Builds For NH Man Who Fired Warning Shot at Burglar

Sarah Smith — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:31:42 -0500

--Chad Love

A New Hampshire man is facing prison time because he fired a warning shot at a burglar that he not only caught, but held at gunpoint until police could arrive.

From this story on CBS news:

A man who caught a suspected burglar in his neighborhood over the weekend now faces criminal charges himself. It all started Saturday afternoon, when police were called to two homes on Ten Rod Road because someone had broken into them. Officers found 61-year-old Dennis Fleming holding off the suspect with a handgun. Fleming’s home was one of the two that were robbed.

Twenty-seven-year-old Joseph Hebert was arrested and charged with two counts of burglary. But it didn’t end there. Police later found out that Fleming had been looking for Hebert for about half-an-hour after the robbery. No one was hurt, but that was enough for police to charge Fleming with reckless conduct for firing his gun in a residential area.

But the story doesn't quite end there. Fleming's case has caused a groundswell of support from self-defense advocates across the country:

A New Hampshire man charged with a crime for capturing the man who robbed his home is getting support from around the globeDennis Fleming’s story has been retold all over the country and it was even picked up overseas by the London Daily Mail. The pressure is building on authorities to drop the charge. “I don’t want to be a poster child for gun advocacy or anything like that,” says Fleming. “It’s not what I’m looking for.” Dennis Fleming may not want to be the poster child, but, gun advocates from all over the county have rallied to his defense. He’s surprised by the support he’s gotten ever since he tracked down a burglar and fired a warning shot.“I know it’s touched a nerve with a lot of people. I have people come up at Walmart, and say ‘you did great I saw you on TV’, ‘I saw you in the paper’.”

Those same people are leaning on Tom Velardi, the Strafford County attorney. He’s still trying to decide whether to prosecute Fleming. Velardi says, “I’m trying to look at what the law says we should be doing, apply some common sense to what the law says we should be doing, and come up with a solution that I think will protect people in Mr. Fleming’s situation as well as the community at large.” At issue is whether Fleming acted to defend his community or if he put people at risk. The group Gun Owners of New Hampshire is taking donations for his legal defense. “Mr. Fleming was simply doing a responsible thing,” says Penny Dean of GONH. “He was holding a person he believed to be a burglar for the police and he’s been punished for that.”

Thoughts? Reaction?

The .50 Cal AR-15 Muzzleloader From CMMG

Dave_Maccar — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:02:44 -0500

by Phil Bourjaily

The AR 15 continues to prove its versatility in all kinds of ways – even ways that leave you scratching your head and asking “why?” For instance, I heard about the AR 15 muzzleloader upper at SHOT and looked in vain for it, finally concluding that it was a Mythical Creature and not a real AR accessory. Since then, I have found these two videos that prove its existence.

And, to give the people at CMMG Inc. credit, the .50 upper is cleverly designed. As you see in the video, the magazine holds extra pellets and bullets for handy reloading, and the gun will handle a three-pellet (150 gr.) load of pyrodex.

Besides the complete lack of traditionality, I don’t have any problem with this, except that you would have to explain why you were carrying an AR 15 during muzzleloader season to any game warden who happened to spot you.

New Remington Versa Max Tactical Shotgun

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:52:27 -0500

Remington has introduced a tactical version of its popular Versa Max shotgun. Check out this video for details.