Yes Joe, times certainly have changed, and I would say not for the better in that area.
Guns and Mexico
It would seem that the “American guns are fueling Mexican crime” meme (which by the way, is a complete fabrication) has managed to make it’s way all the way to the top, as Attorney General Lando CalrissianEric Holder used it as part of his justification for “renewing the assault weapons ban“. Thanks to Tam for the link, we see the following lines from AG Holder:
“I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum.” Holder said at a news conference on the arrest of more than 700 people in a drug enforcement crackdown on Mexican drug cartels operating in the U.S.
Mexican government officials have complained that the availability of sophisticated guns from the United States have emboldened drug traffickers to fight over access routes into the U.S.
Of course, the very next thing he says is that the cartels in Mexico have been using “automatic weapons and grenades”, which is a direct quote. Now, Mr. Attorney General, seeing as it’s your job to enforce the laws of the land, maybe you know those automatic weapons sure didn’t come from here, and if they did then IT’S ALREADY ILLEGAL ANYWAY.
So here we are, barely a month into the new administration, and the spectre of a new ban has already reared its ugly head. I do sincerely hope that Congress learned from 1994, where an assault weapons ban cost a lot of them their jobs. The “blue dogs” that ran as pro-gun Democrats are going to have to quite literally “stick to their guns”.
I strongly encourage everyone to start writing, faxing, and emailing your reps right now – don’t wait until the legislation exists, but start now telling them that you oppose, and they should strongly oppose any legislation to ban assault weapons or to further restrict the rights of law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.
Fun From the IDPA Indoor Nationals
A follow up to yesterday’s post about the Smith & Wesson IDPA Indoor National Championships, I wanted to highlight something I mentioned in passing, but didn’t fully elaborate upon. I noted offhand that David Olhasso, the winner of the Custom Defensive Pistol Division, won the match with a Smith & Wesson M&P .45 ACP. The Custom Defensive Pistol division has almost always been “where the 1911s run” in IDPA, as one of the division requirements is that you use a gun chambered in .45 ACP and that the maximum in the magazine is 8 rounds. At the top level, you see some pretty whiz-bang custom guns in CDP, gun makers like Wilson Combat and Nighthawk are not uncommon at the Master class level.
Now, David Olhasso is one of those “all-galaxy” level shooters, however the fact that he was able to come in and clean up with a polymer framed .45 ACP and not a 1911 is a neat achievement in an of itself; when you add to that the fact that the next closest finisher in his division was 15 full seconds behind David it makes it even more impressive.
It’s also a pretty smart marketing stunt by S&W. They certainly do not have a shortage of .45 ACP 1911s that David could have shot at the match, but by having him shoot the M&P .45 and win is the sort of thing that you can put in magazines (and the internet, I suppose).
The unloaded weight of an M&P .45 is 29.6 ounces, compared to 41 ounces for S&W’s 1911 in .45 ACP. Weight of the gun is a HUGE factor in mitigating recoil, and those extra 10+ ounces make a big difference; which means that David Olhasso is just that good. The other fun thing to take away from this is that you can go to your local gun store, and walk out with roughly the same gun that David used to win the CDP division for around $700 beans. That’s the other thing you can’t replicate about the 1911s used in CDP division – you’re not going to be able to walk into Bob’s Guns and come out with the same gun that Matt Sims uses for anywhere near that M&P’s price point.
I’m not saying that you should ditch your 1911 and get an M&P, mind you – because you should shoot the platform with which you’re comfortable. However, the trend towards polymer guns for competition seems to be continuing, and S&W’s aggressive push on their M&P line of pistols is certainly helping.
The Liberal Question
On the Gun Nuts Radio Blog, we’re starting to do a show wrap-up post, where myself or Breda addresses some of the topics from the show in post format. Click over to www.gunnuts-tng.com to see the wrap-up from last night, The Question of Liberals.
Huh
According to this test, I’m 60% Socially Liberal.
| You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an… Economic Conservative (85% permissive) You are best described as a: Capitalist
Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid |
I’m also 85% Fiscally liberal, which means I’m a hella capitalist.
Gun Nuts – Liberals, Guns, and Education
Last night’s Gun Nuts Radio was in 1 word – great. The discussion ran the gamut from educational issues, to how we should treat them, and what sort of “evangelism” we should do for our fellow gun owners who happen to be Obama voters/liberals. As usual, you can download the show by clicking here, or by clicking Gun Nuts Logo below to go to the show page. You can also click this link for an .mp3 copy of the show.
Of course, you can also subscribe to the podcast via iTunes – click here for instructions on how to get Gun Nuts on your iTunes or Zune.
Next week’s show we’ll be talking about the Alamo – both from a historical point of view as well as what lessons modern gun owners can take from the Alamo.
Fire mission!
If you listened to last night’s show on Gun Nuts Radio then you heard me mention Facebook at the top half of the show. If you’re a member of Facebook, I’d like you to consider joining the Fans of Gun Nuts Media group on Facebook, because I have a goal. This morning, as of about 0730 Eastern, the Fans of Gun Nuts group had just over 300 members, and the Brady Campaign group had over 630.
I want the Fans of Gun Nuts group to have more members on Facebook than the Brady Campaign, straight up. We, gun owners, are the real grassroots. There is no reason that the anti’s should have more members on their Facebook group than we do, so if you’re a member of Facebook and not a member of the Fans of Gun Nuts Group, then please join.
If you’re not a member of facebook, joining is easy. All you have to do is go to www.facebook.com, sign up, and then search for “Gun Nuts Media” on their little search utility to find the group.
We’re already halfway to our goal, let’s get the rest of the way – we already have more members in the Fans of Gun Nuts Group than AHSA has members, so let’s get more members than the Brady Campaign has on Facebook.
3-2-1 Reasoned Discourse!
As a dog returns to its vomit, so doth the lefty bloggers close comments.
The guy that Unc and Tam linked to who was soilin’ his trousers over Freepers, being, well, Freepers, has closed his comments. It’s almost like a script.
- Post some hysterical bullcrap
- Get called on it
- Close comments.
***And let me say this to anyone who wants to minimize this or make excuses for these rightwing domestic terrorists– your comments will be deleted. This post is not open for debate.***
Comments, yes. Debate, no.
…
Comments are officially closed.
Use the sights
Quote of the Day: “Jeff Cooper told me to use the sights, and Todd Jarrett told me to use the sights, so until [redacted] shows me the body of a dead Japanese soldier he shot with a pistol or his IPSC World Championship trophy, I’m going to use the sights.”
Getting ready for Gun Tests
Every year, Outdoor Life has a big “gun test”. I guess I know why I can’t find ammo anywhere!