Let’s make it illegaler!
That seems to be the thought process of the LA City Council, which yesterday passes six “anti-crime” ordinances, which do nothing but 1) place an increased burden on lawful gun owners, and 2) make stuff that is already illegal even more illegal.
Allowing landlords to evict tenants who illegally possess guns
Banning the sale of .50-caliber ammunition and cartridges
Requiring ammunition vendors to be licensed and require face-to-face transactions and record-keeping for all ammunition sales made in the city of Los Angeles
Allowing the seizure of vehicles used by gang members while committing a crime
Banning secret compartments in vehicles to hide firearms
Requiring gun dealers to conduct inventories and report the inventories to the Los Angeles Police Department
That list item – requiring “gun dealers” (such a scary word, why couldn’t they have said “law-abiding firearms retailers”?) to conduct and report inventories to LAPD is frankly ridiculous. As pointed out by NRA spokesmen in the article itself, it is completely redundant, as there are both state and federal laws which already require federally licensed dealers to maintain inventories which the BATFE can audit at any time.
I suppose that most of this post is rhetorical anyway, we know that the recently passed laws won’t do anything to reduce crime; I mean honestly, how many crimes have been committed in LA with a .50 BMG recently? Just because it happened in that movie SWAT doesn’t mean that gangbangers are coming out of the woodwork with Barrett rifles. I challenge anyone to show me an actual felony, such as armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, anything along those lines, committed with a .50 BMG in the United States, much less in the state of California.
IDPA Glossary
One of the most common questions I get asked by people who are looking to get into IDPA is “what is the difference between tactical sequence and tactical priority”? For those of you that haven’t shot IDPA, on most courses of fire the COF layout will say “engage targets in tactical priority/tactical sequence” depending on how the COF is laid out and what the intent of the course designers was. Since most IDPA stages are scenario based, tactical priority vs. tactical sequence becomes very important.To help explain, I’ll quote the definitions from IDPA’s rulebook first, then (hopefully) elaborate on them from there.Tactical Priority
A method of target engagement. For Tactical Priority, targets are engaged by order of threat. If all targets are visible, targets are engaged from near to far, as long as targets are more than two yards from each other. If targets are hidden by a barricade, targets are engaged as they are seen (slicing the pie).
Tactical Sequence
A method of target engagement. For Tactical Sequence, all targets are engaged with one round each before being engaged again. In the case of three targets requiring two rounds each, all targets would be engaged with one round to each target BEFORE reengaging the targets with another round in any order (1-1-2-1-1).
Well, there we go. Clear as mud, right? Now, one of the other rules specifies that all COFs should be shot in Tactical Priority unless Tactical Sequence is specifically required. The other little detail about Tactical Priority is the “2 yard rule”. If you have two targets within 2 yards of one another, they’re considered an “equal threat”; and if the COF is in Tactical Priority then you can engage them in whatever order you please. However, if those same two targets are on a course of fire that’s designated for Tactical Sequence, then you have to shoot each one of them once before you can go back and get your second hit on either of them.As you can see, Tac Sequence and Tac Priority can get confusing some times. The way that I remember the difference is simple, and it keeps from getting procedural penalties for blasting targets in the wrong order. If I see or hear “tactical sequence” I know that I have to get a hit on every target before I can go back and hit them again. Since IDPA usually requires two hits on target, tactical sequence means everyone gets one shot before I give them a follow up.If I hear “tactical priority”, two things happen. One, I get happy, because it means that I have more leeway in how I engage the targets. I just have to be careful to remember when I’m slicing the pie on barricade targets to hit them in the proper order, which is usually “outside to inside”; since with Tactical Priority you’re engaging as they become visible. To illustrate the differences, here are two COFs from the Indiana State Championship match, one of which has been slightly modified to better make the point.First up is the COF illustrating tactical sequence: 
In this COF, since three hits are required per target (two the body and one to the head), tactical sequence would dictate the following engagement procedure, assuming that you’re like me and you’ll shoot the left target first. In tactical sequence, your first round hits the left target (1), then you fire your three shots into the right target (3) and then return to the left target for your last two hits. This way, you’ve satisfied the “shoot everyone once” requirement of tactical sequence in the fastest way possible. To illustrate tactical priority, here’s another COF from the State match. 
Assuming that you’re like me, I went to the right side of the car. Tactical priority means that the first target you’d see would be the right most target (the one with the hostage) and then you’d engage that target with two rounds before moving on to the next inward target. Hence, in tactical priority with obscured targets, you work from outside to inside. Hopefully, armed with this information you’ll be able to head out to your next IDPA match and not have any concerns about the difference between tactical priority and tactical sequence!
Playing with Google Chrome
It’s interesting, to say the least. The whole reason I downloaded it was because I was tired of Firefox 3.xx crashing on me for no apparent reason, so I up and said “what the hell, let’s just let Google have a little bit more access to my life”.
Please don’t be evil, Google.
Looking for Lissa
I cannot believe that I have not been reading this blog. Just click here.
The Curse of the Rules Lawyer
Anyone who has shot competition matches for any length of time has run into the Rules Lawyer – the guy who tries to use the rulebook to gain whatever competitive advantage he can, and often wheedles and wines about the letter of the law. I actually love the wikipedia entry on Rules Lawyer that I’ve linked to; as it’s correct in that I first encountered the term when I was in the military, and I’ve most often heard it referenced in role-playing or board games.
Now, the problem with rules lawyering in the shooting sports is that some of the shooting games’ structures tend to make this sort of behavior easier. My 2nd favorite shooting sport (behind Steel) is IDPA, which unfortunately due to the sometimes unnecessarily complicated rules you end up seeing this sort of behavior come out more and more. For example, the favorite topics of the rules lawyers in IDPA are three things:
- Improper use of cover
- Reloads
- Trying to do the RO’s job for them
For example, during a club level match, say you accidentally forgot to retain a magazine that had rounds in it, and reloaded USPSA style and kept shooting. Now, if the RO and you didn’t notice, then it’s no big deal. However, a rules lawyer will have noticed, and will point out to the RO that you dropped the mag with rounds in it and that you should get a procedural. The rules lawyer also loves to point out if you’re not using cover correctly, or just generally try to act like it’s their show.
Now, there are several ways to deal with this character. The first, and best way, is to be classy. If he points out a legitimate penalty, you man up and take it. That way you end up looking like a classy guy, and the rules lawyer ends up looking like a dick. If you happen to be the RO, and some guy in the squad is constantly rules lawyering, take them aside from the other shooters and politely remind them that they’re not the RO.
I will say this though; usually the worst cases of rules lawyers happen at club level matches. Sanctioned matches usually have measures in places to counteract this sort of activity. Unless you get a rules lawyer as your RO, which is pretty much terrible.
Rules lawyering isn’t limited to IDPA. I’ve seen it happen in steel matches, USPSA, and even bowling pins – the key thing to remember if you run into one of these guys is to not let them ruin your fun. 99% of the guys that you’ll shoot competitions with are good guys, and are there to have fun and shoot some bullets. Only rarely will you run into that 1% of guys who want to spoil the fun for everyone else. When you do, just let it ride, keep shooting, and have fun. That’s the most important thing you can do!
Hometown gun control
In my sort-of home town of Seattle, the local mayor seems to think that it’s a good idea to overstep his legal powers and enact gun control laws that he doesn’t have the authority to enact. My friend and nemesis Joe Huffman attended a public hearing opposing the Mayor’s illegal plans. One of the most interesting things in his post is this:
I was very pleased there were numerous non-stereotypical gun owners testified in opposition. I think there were three self identified gay men. Several women testified including one that identified herself as a gun carrying tree-hugger, another that identified herself as a rape victim, and another that said she had spent the last several months working on the Obama campaign. Their point in identifying as such was that Nickels was pissing off people that would normally support him.
That is actually one of the neat things about the Pacific Northwest, is that the gun owning community often blows the “gun owner” stereotype right out of the water. I have met plenty of people that, were it not for their ownership of firearms and belief in the right to keep and bear arms that I would describe as “crunchy granola hippies”.
You should read the entirety of Joe’s post, it also has a transcription of the remarks he gave at the public hearing. Also, there are pictures.
Save the M14
Robert has a link to sign a petition asking the government to stop destroying surplus M14s, but instead convert them to semi-auto and sell them via the CMP. It’s a worthwhile cause, as a CMP M14 would sell like hotcakes…and the supplies of M1 are really starting to dry up.
The downside is that it would likely take an Act of Congress to allow this to happen, thanks the ATF’s regs about machine guns, but hey, a boy can dream, right?
What would you do
For about the coolest lever-gun on the planet?
Barrel shortened to 16″ and Ported
Action and trigger tuned up
“Bear-proof” extractor
Trijicon Front bead, Ghost ring rear sight
Kevlar synthetic stocks w/ Decelorator pad
Satin Hard Chrome finish
Picatinny mount on magazine tube for light or laser
If lever-guns are your flavor, and you’re looking for a slicked up blaster for when the zombies come a knocking, well, you can’t go wrong with one of those.
Carry Guns, SHOT Show and magic elves
If you missed last night’s show, you missed another great one. We started off with a discussion of SHOT Show, which as I mentioned yesterday is going to be an excellent time. The conversation was prompted by this image – my press pass for SHOT arrived yesterday in the mail, which caused all sorts of giddy excitement on my part. After the discussion of SHOT, we moved on to the topic of the show, which was carry guns and affordable defensive firearms. You can download an .mp3 of the show by clicking this link, or listen via the embedded player below.
If neither of those listening methods is your flavor, you can also just click here. We’re also available in the iTunes store for download now, so if you’re an Apple/iTunes user, you can search for “Call me Ahab” in the iTunes store and subscribe to the podcast. It downloads updates to you the morning after the show. I have to say though, if you’re not listening live, you’re missing out on the best part of the show – the Gun Nuts Chat. When the show goes live every evening at 9pm, the chat room at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts goes live as well – and it literally packed with a “who’s who” of gunbloggers. If you’re not listening live, you’re missing out.
I’d like to thank everyone who called in this week to add to the show – it’s your voices, the listeners, the gun nuts who make this show what it is. Without you guys, we’d just be a pair of talking heads having a conversation.
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