gun control

For the last time

Posted on by Caleb

The VA Tech shooter did not get any of his guns at a gun show.  Closing the imaginary “gun show loophole” would not have stopped him from getting a single one of his guns.  Essentially, stop being wrong.

A group called Protest Easy Guns is planning to bus people in from all over the state for a demonstration Monday on Capitol Square. They’re planning to lay down on the front lawn of the state capitol to drive home the impact of the Tech shootings.

That’s real classy, right there.  I get really irritated about tactics like this, because I’m generally opposed to grandstanding and making a public spectacle of oneself, especially if in so doing you’re also ramming a tragedy in the faces of the general public.  It seems rather uncouth to me.

But back to the facts, a concept with which I’m sure Protest Easy Guns is alien to, but like I said the VA Tech shooter didn’t buy his guns from a gun show.  There is no gun show loophole, no matter how hard you close your eyes and pretend that there is one.  The VA Tech shooter got his guns because he squeezed through a now closed loophole in the NICS system, something that was addressed by H.R. 2640.  So closing the gun show loophole will do, uh, nothing.  Something like 99% of the people selling actual guns (note: guys selling beef jerky, holsters, black powder firearms, knives, etc don’t count) at gun shows are FFL holders, which means they’re required by federal law to conduct a background check.  There are usually a few private individuals at gun shows selling off a private collection like that, but in the 10 years I’ve been going to gun shows I have yet to see a private selling selling “an arsenal” or whatever hyperbolic term the anti’s are using now.

I used to live in Virginia, and they have an active and vibrant pro-gun culture, headed up by the VCDL.   I’ve lived in a lot of places in the last 8 years, and there was something about Virginia that stuck with me; despite the bad traffic and high prices I really enjoyed being there.  If you’re in Virginia, you need to contact your state reps and oppose any proposed legislation to “close the gun show loophole”.  Make me proud to keep calling myself and Virginian-in-exile.

gun control

Bring out your toys!

Posted on by Caleb

Remember how England is banning deactivated firearms?  As if that wasn’t silly enough, now the police are asking citizens to turn in their “realistic imitation guns“.

London’s Metropolitan Police began a four-week campaign urging residents to surrender imitation guns after crimes involving firearms rose in the U.K. capital.

Airguns, blank-firing pistols and cap guns, along with real weapons, can be turned in at police stations anonymously, the Metropolitan Police said in an e-mailed statement today.

Wow.  “Turn in your inanimate objects that look like real guns, because you might commit a crime with your toys” is pretty much the stupidest thing that I have ever heard.  I imagine that this will be eventually followed by a legislative call to ban toy guns, because god forbid that you have anything in your country that even looks like a firearm.

It’s almost contemptible.  Who is thinking these policies up anyway?  How come someone over there in a position of authority hasn’t raised their hand in one of these meetings and said “Uh…guns are pretty much illegal, and that hasn’t done anything to help the crime rate; maybe we should try something else because this gun shit isn’t working”.  Where is that guy, because he needs to say something.

sports

Conference Championship wrap-ups

Posted on by Caleb

Wow, what a day yesterday.  Two good games, although the first game was overshadowed by the NFC Championship, which was quite simply epic in terms of the game itself.  On to the wrap-up!

NFC Championship

First off, I’d like to state that I sort of actually picked the Giants, even though I picked the Packers.  Reference my quote from my preview:

I would like to point out, that I have picked against the Giants in every single one of their playoff games, despite the fact that I like Eli Manning and that Giants RBs carried all three of my fantasy teams this season; I keep expecting them to implode.  But I actually want them to win, so I’m going to pick the Packers.

Since I had picked against the Giants, and they kept winning, I didn’t want to throw a jinx on them by picking them in the NFC Championship.  So Giants nation, you owe me one.  Beyond that, the NFC Championship was a fantastic game.  Any time a playoff game goes into overtime it makes me happy, and the fact that it ended with Tynes redeeming himself by making the longest field goal in Lambeau playoff history only solidified this as one of the best NFC Championship games in history.

Brett Favre displayed his class and poise as usual, in being the first person to congratulate Eli Manning on the win, he literally ran across the field to shake Eli’s hand.  I’ve never consumed the Eli Hateraede, so I hope that the young Manning takes Favre’s display of sportsmanship and class to heart.

Despite the fact that I’m a Red Sox fan, I’ve organically developed a soft spot for the Giants; which probably has a lot to do with the fact that I’ve had at least two Giants on every fantasy football team I’ve owned since 2004.  That’s a lot of Giants, so because I like my FF teams to win, I would end up rooting for the Giants.  I can’t bring myself to hate them like I hate the Yankees.

But don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to be cheering for them against the Patriots.  Soft spot or no, it’s certainly not something would get me to root against the Pats.

AFC Championship

Early on in this game, I thought the Chargers had a chance, I really did.  Then the 2nd half started, and the Patriots clamped down.  Actually, they looked like the Patriots from 2 or 3 seasons ago (in the second half) just smashing the Chargers defense in the face and destroying them with the run.  Fun stat – in the 4th quarter the Pats held the ball for 12 of the 15 minutes.

I think the Patriots’ O-line enjoyed getting down in the mucky-muck and playing a smashmouth football; near the end of the game they really seemed to be enjoying themselves, laughing in the huddle, and just having a good time knocking the Chargers around.

Also, did anyone else see Philip Rivers talking smack to the Patriots’ fans?  What the hell is wrong with that kid?  Did he miss the day of school where everyone else learned “sticks and stones and 250 linebackers may break my bones, but words from a drunk fan really shouldn’t get under my skin because I’m a damn professional athlete” (ed – I think the rhyme is a little different from that)?

I liked the game plan the Patriots had; they knew that they weren’t going to get anything downfield, so they just played dink-and-dunk for 4, 5, 6 yards and then ran the ball.  It was great.

Super Bowl

I will of course do a full Super Bowl post before the actual game, but I did want to comment on one thing – I don’t believe that the Patriots should be the 14 point favorites that they are.  The Giants played them tough, and should provide them with a lot better game than Vegas seems to be thinking.  I don’t think the Giants would win, but 14 points is a lot of points.  Pats win, 30-24.

Uncategorized

Holy crap

Posted on by Caleb

The Giants are going to the Super Bowl.  I bet Countertop is happy.

Also, Brett Favre is a classy, classy guy.  The way he reacted to Eli immediately after the game displayed the kind of class that makes him one of the all-time greatest players ever.

Congrats to Eli and the Giants, I hope you enjoy getting your head handed to you by the Patriots.   More commentary in the morning.

gun control

He’s right

Posted on by Caleb

Sebastian thinks that the latest NRA statement on Heller, and the DOJ’s brief is much better than their first one.  I agree.

The District is asking the Supreme Court to reverse the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals and find that the Second Amendment does not protect a broad individual right. DOJ is supporting a different view-that the Second Amendment does protect an individual right, and that the case should go back to the lower court to apply a different standard of review. DOJ suggests applying a lower level of constitutional scrutiny than the Court of Appeals adopted. The NRA disagrees and believes the lower court’s ruling should be upheld.

The thing I really liked about this release from the NRA, which comes out in their Grassroots information, is that it provides a pretty good resource for information on the briefs filed with regards to the Heller case.  As you might have noticed, my coverage of the DC vs. Heller issue has been a bit spottier than other blogs; so it’s nice to have a lot of the information I need to stay current aggregated into one place.  The NRA’s latest release has a lot of good information, you can follow the link to read the entire thing right here.  Here is my favorite excerpt:

NRA believes that the right to arms is a fundamental right; as with other fundamental rights, laws restricting that right deserve the highest level of scrutiny.

Like I said, this is press release I had been hoping for.

revolvers

So it begins

Posted on by Caleb

As I mentioned in my “Streamlining” post, I’m going to be trying to get my gun collection a little more focused.  I have guns because I like to shoot guns, as such guns I don’t shoot just collect dust in my closet, when they could have good homes elsewhere.

The first gun I’m selling is a Ruger GP100 Double Action Only in .357.  Stainless finish and stock Ruger grips, this was my carry gun when I lived in Virginia and open carried.  I bought it used, but like any other Ruger it runs just fine.  The exterior surface has some scratches and dings, some where there when I bought it, and I added some in the years I’ve had it.  The more important fact is that it shoots, and shoots quite well.  I’ll also throw in two Bianchi Speed Strips, an HKS speedloader and an aftermarket Hogue grip.

Total price for gun and gear: $350 on Gunbroker.  That’s the “Buy it Now” price, but bids are opening lower than that.  Please, won’t someone give this revolver a good home?

ammo

Ammo prices

Posted on by Caleb

I pulled a bunch of ammo prices from (notoriously overpriced) Cabelas; I was flipping through their shooting catalog that came yesterday, and I noticed some interesting stuff.

300 Rounds of 230 grain .45 ACP ammo – $119.99, or  $0.40 per round.

300 Rounds of 250 grain .45 Colt ammo – $189.99, or  $0.63 per round (ouch!).

500 Rounds of 40 grain .22 WMR ammo – $84.99, or  $0.16 per round.

300 Rounds of 158 grain .38 Special ammo – $89.99 or  $0.30 per round.

300 Rounds of 115 grain 9mm Ammo – $74.99, or  $0.25 per round.

250 Rounds of 40 grain 5.7x28mm ammo – $99.99, or $0.40 per round.

So if you base your ammo purchases off price per round (which is a perfectly reasonable thing to base them on), then shooting the Five-seveN if you don’t reload is about as expensive as shooting .45 ACP if you don’t reload.  The biggest killer in there is .45 Colt, when you think about it, sixty-three cents every time you pull the trigger is a lot of money.

One of the things that I’m a big advocate of is getting practice time with your carry guns.  A carry is useless if you A) don’t carry it, and B) if you can’t hit what you’re aiming at with it.  I can feed my .38s and 9mm relatively inexpensively,but when I get up to my bigger (or more esoteric) calibers, I start to run into budgetary issues.

So, what if you can reload, what are solutions?  Well, if reloading isn’t an option, you’re probably in the same boat I’m in.  I shoot a lot of .22s, and if you can get one of those neat kits that allows your carry gun to shoot .22s, I would.  It’s cheap, but it lets you practice with the same gun that you’re going to carry.

If you’re looking to get a little extra money to invest in to ammo, you should save your brass.  Even if you don’t reload, save your brass.  No matter what caliber you shoot; but even more so if it’s a common caliber.  Someone on the internet will always want some once fired 9mm, .38, .357, or .45 ACP brass; it’s pretty much a lock.  You can sell that brass, and take that money and use it towards ammo.  (Actually, that reminds me, who wants a bunch of .45 ACP brass I have sitting around?)

Ammo prices are probably not going to go anywhere but up; so it’s important to try and cut cost corners wherever you can.  I try to buy in bulk, sell my used brass (since I don’t reload…yet), and most of guns are in relatively inexpensive calibers.  Or, you could reload.  A decent single stage kit from Lee isn’t too expensive, and will pretty much pay for itself in a hurry.

news

Like something out of a movie

Posted on by Caleb

“Hundreds” of Mexican police and army engaged in a running gun battle with members of what they to believe to be the Arellano Felix drug cartel.

People wonder why I’m concerned about the BATFE giving the Mexican authorities access to E-Trace data?  Their crime is out of control, they blame the US for automatic weapons being imported over their border (which is just a flat lie), and it appears that they’re teetering on the brink of a small shooting war between the cartels, smugglers, and the erstwhile authorities.

The issue is that an open shooting war between the Mexican authorities and the cartels would most certainly spill over into violence on our side of the border; hell in many places there’s been an open state of hostilities for years anyway.

humor/news

Irony

Posted on by Caleb

Founder of an anti-gun group has pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges.

Hector (Big Weasel) Marroquin, 51, and co-defendant Sylvia Arrellano, 25, entered pleas Thursday for three counts of manufacture, distribution and transport for sale of an unlawful assault weapon.

I talked about this back when he was first arrested, and it’s still just as funny now as it was then.  I guess when he said that no one should have guns, he meant no one but himself and his “crew”.