The Gun Blogs

Gun controllers often say that they desperately need to close the "gun show loophole" because it allows people to obtain guns legally (illegally in their minds) without Government oversight. Apparently they've never heard of this, the greatest threat to peace and goodwill that they want to force upon you: The Manufacturing Loophole.

Wander over and take a tour of the landscape on this little-talked about method for obtaining guns: making your own.

Common Dreams.org trots out this factually-challenged piece of VPC garbage: SKS Assault Rifles–A Menace to Public Safety, wherein we are told:

these high capacity rifles pose an enhanced threat to law enforcement, in part because of their ability to expel projectiles at velocities that are capable of penetrating the type of soft body armor typically worn by the law enforcement officers.”

1. High capacity? An SKS can't hold more than 10 rounds. 10 rounds, according to the now-defunct "Assault Weapons" Ban, was not considered high capacity.

2. All rifles can penetrate body armor. Always could.

They say that quote is from an ATF report (it very well could be), but no link is provided.

Meanwhile, Essentially Contested (Congested?) America reminds us that Guns Don't Kill, But Assault Rifles Do. They start out by quoting Paul Helmke:

"Having an SKS rifle and high-capacity ammunition clips enabled a troubled young man to kill and injure a large number of people quickly and efficiently.

See #1, above, then add the fact that the SKS doesn't accept "clips". I'm assuming the quote is referring to magazines, of course. The capacity of a true clip is irrelevant, it's the capacity of the rifle that matters. Again, I refer you to #1 above.

The notion that "guns don't kill, people do" while literally correct is contextually absurd ... People need to be involved. But just imagine the degree of lethality of a knife, a revolver, pistol, or even an ordinary hunter's rifle contrasted with an assault rifle. They just don't match.

The idiocy of this statement pegged my bullshit meter so hard the needle bent. Of course they don't match. An "ordinary hunter's rifle" is much more powerful than an SKS. Speaking from ignorance is what they do best, though.

When will we learn?

That's a question I ask myself every time I see garbage like this. When will you learn?

Rifles, that is.

Common Folk Using Common Sense points us to these bargain bin M4's.

Can you say $550?

I knew you could.

Rules of Gun fighting

1 Have a gun.
2 Bring your friends who have guns.
3 If it’s worth shooting, it’s worth shooting again, and again, etc.
4 Only hits count. Front Sight Squeeze; Repeat as necessary
5 Any hits count for something.
6 If they are throwing mortars at you, shoot them! (see rule #3).
7 If you can see them you can shoot them; So do it ( personal experince)!!!
8 Proximity negates skill.
9 Always Cheat.
10 If not shooting you should be communicating, reloading and/or moving.
11 Someday, Someone may kill you with your own gun, but they will have to beat you to death with it because; it will be empty.
12 Have a plan.
13 Have a back up plan because the main plan will fail.
14 Flank them, don’t get flanked.
15 Be aggressive.
16 The faster you finish the fight the less chance you have of getting shot.
17 Tactical reload, as soon as possible.
18 Be polite, be paranoid.
19 The only things that matter are you living and them dying.
20 Bullets go through walls
21 Bring extra ammo.
22 Women and children can and will shoot you. Trust NO One!
23 If you do get shot, shoot back, relax, and don’t panic.

This is not original to me, just figured that I would share, pass it along, some I have added from personal experience, but again I am not the first person to say this. Add some of your own, and we can try and get the 50 best or something. So comment and I will edit the list to include good ones.

In comments here I take David U. to task for this:

I am a member of NRA, I pay only the annual membership fee because I believe in the Proper interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. I own Guns, including personal Handguns and I have a concealed carry lic. in Tex. That said, I have complained to Mr. Lapierre (no reasponse) re: the stand on the Assault Rifle
...
Assault weapons are for Combat, I don’t see the need or the use for them in any other venue. If it is for Gun Collections and/or plinking, well, there are ways to enjoy that activity without owning full auto weapons.
...
I just have a problem with weapons designed specifically for combat ( i.e. FULL automatic weapons and those that can be changed to full auto. ) being in the hands of the general public, that is not personal protection, that is something else.

It's like he never heard of Zumbo. Or Jackson.

UPDATE Oh, great, my comment hasn't shown up yet. I'll keep an eye on it.

UPDATE the Second: It's up! Here's some of it:

I’m in the NRA too (Life Member), and what you have to understand is this: Once the gun-grabbing politicians get my “assault weapon”, how long will it be before they come for your “high-powered sniper rifle” aka Grandpa’s 30-06 with the 4x scope? Add to this the fact that urban sprawl and environmental groups are taking hunting lands away at an alarming rate, do you really want to alienate a large portion of the gun owning community by throwing them under the bus, just to save your part of the hobby?

You’re more than welcome to come to my blog and discuss this. Making arguments like yours helps no one.

Related material from Sebastian.

Ya know, at first I didn't realize that was Greta Van Susternenenen's blog. =)

New Sig 556 rifle review
AHH.
I brought home a new baby. A brand new Sig 556 rifle. Forward grip, stream light tactical light, HALO sight. What a wonderful piece of engineering! I have as of yet not done any formal accuracy testing, but during the basic sight in session, the rifle was easy to shoot, minimal recoil, very steady, and shot well. At 25yds it was easy to shoot overlapping groups from offhanded. With its thin barrel the rifle does heat up, however unlike an AR-15 none of the heat is felt by the user because of the well vented large handguard‘s. This first sight-in session was at night and I was very impressed about the lack of an overwhelming muzzle flash. the basic M-16 flash suppresser works very well indeed.
I suppose the last time I fired an M-16 style flash hider at night, I was in a small house in Mosul, with other things on my mind! Overall the I am very impressed by the weapon, if I was to compare the Sig 556 to anything I would have to say that it handles like an M249 SAW. The pistol grip even feels close! The piston system does an excellent job of reducing recoil, and to me it is more comfortable to shoot than my AR-15.
As for reliability testing I was again impressed. Normally when I had acquired semi-automatic rifles they might hick-up in the first few rounds. Not the Sig; Insert Magazine, rack bolt, pull trigger, repeat as needed. Of the 7 mags I used in the first shoot (30 rounders) not a single problem. Simply pull trigger, and repeat as necessary. That is what a tactical rifle is suppose to do.
Since that first play time I have exercised the rifle at 200 yards and I was having little difficulty hitting paper plates at that distance. Another 500 rounds and still not one malfunction. Playing with the rifle more I believe that it is slightly heavier than I would normally choose, but not to the point of being unmanageable. I am also calculating the weight based on end-user, IE what shooters actually put on these types of weapons.
I don’t think that I will stop using my AR-15, but I do think that this is a better rifle. I also don’t think that it will become as popular as the ar, if only because of the price. There is always room in the gun cabinet for new types of weapons, and cool new gadgets. The Sig will not supplant the AR in the regular sense of the word but I do believe that the gas-piston system will become a prominent feature in future combat rifles.

The latest entry in the "Bite Me, Brady!" series. Guaranteed to induce PSH in the staunchest gun controller. Unlike a lot of impersonal rifles and guns out there, this one was made especially for Paul Helmke and is dedicated to him.

Enjoy!

Why the Iraqis are buying AK-47's.

Via Sebastian comes another so-called ally in the war on guns speaking out against "assault weapons"*.

Joaquin Jackson of the NRA says "assault weapons" should only be in the hands of the police and military.

I agree, five rounds is plenty for hunting. Needing only one is bullshit. Limiting any rifles capacity is also bullshit. I wonder if the one he's holding in that NRA ad holds more than five?

Sebastian's link has further information on this issue.

* From now on, I'm putting quotation marks around this political construct of a term.

Hey guys we have lowered our prices even more so come check us out again.

We now have photos for our products as requested.

Prices dropped anywhere from 10-30% and with our flat rate shipping of $25.00 we are without a doubt the Cheapest place online to purchase your firearms.

www.actionpawn.net

A take on what the proposed (now-dead) assault weapon ban SB.43 would have meant in Maryland.

Via Unc comes another post by Jim Zumbo.

Like Unc said in this post:

I believe he gets it.

I do, too.

I really doubt Zumbo is a closeted (or outed for that matter) gun banner. I do think he chose his words poorly. I also think he's not "in" to EBRs or the shooting that goes along with it. He looks at things from a hunters perspective. No biggie, a whole segment of the gun owning population does.

He is, however, also involved in the business angle of things. We got his attention, we got the industries' attention. Much of our clout comes from these industires. Let's take it and do some good instead of pissing it away over sour grapes.

This one comes from Progressive U. Commenter J. Mullen says :

Semi-auto rifles and shotguns have nothing more to do with "assault weapons" than the cars we drive have anything to do with NASCAR.

So very, very true.

Via Sebastian comes a piece at Huff Po referencing the WaPo's hit piece on the Zumbo thing.

The comments there are amazing, I have to show you all some. Not the overly political ones, just ... well, you'll see:

I don't know why they just don't go all out and use bazookas to kill whatever critter they're after. It makes as much sense as what they do now.

God forbid they may charge you before you can sqeeze off a few hundred rounds and stop the savage beasties! >;D

Why you need a full-auto high caliber assualt weapon to shoot something the size of a squirrel is beyond me.

Nobody in his right mind hunts with an AR-15 or SKS!

There must be some BIG MEAN prairie dogs that need an assault rifle to take them down.

I really like this one:

Hunting was a tradition in my family and if you couldn't kill with one shot, you stayed home.

Not a lot of hunting going on in your family, then, is there? I come from a family of lifelong hunters who still clean and eat whatever they kill. I'm calling bullshit on that "tradition". No one can kill with one shot on a regular basis, nor should they even try.

These were just from the first three pages of comments over there. What I see is fundamental ignorance on the part of many commenters. They have no idea what they are talking about, either about the story or the weapons mentioned.

Talks about "full auto" and "hundreds of rounds" just shows how scared people who are not into guns have become listening to anti-gunners.

[crossposted from my new blog at http://outdoorlogic.blogspot.com]

Not that we're really suprised by the folks in the Chicago area, but I found this on Icarry.org.
It's a new county ordinance expanding the ban on various so-called "assualt weapons" and features of assualt weapons"
Here's the text with a few of them highlighted with my comments:

ARTICLE VI. ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN
Section 6-1 Definitions.
As used in Article VI of this Ordinance, the following terms shall have the following meaning:
(a) "Assault weapon means:
(1) A semiautomatic rifle that has the capacity to accept a large capacity magazine detachable or otherwise and one or more of the following:
(A) Only a pistol grip without a stock attached;
(B) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand;

No more railed forearms and verticle grips. and, could the mag well and mag on an AR-15 fit this? Well, looks like they ban all ARs anyway at the bottom, regardless of features.

(C) A folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(D) A shroud attached to the barrel, or that partially or completely encircles the barrel, allowing the bearer to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel; or

Isn't this what the foreard grip on an AR-15 is?

(E) A muzzle brake or muzzle compensator;

It's not just flash hiders anymore, any muzzle brake..it's out, even on your semi deer rifle

(2) A semiautomatic pistol or any semi-automatic rifle that has a fixed magazine, that has the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition;

(3) A semiautomatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has one or more of the following:

(A) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand;
(B) A folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(C) A shroud attached to the barrel, or that partially or completely encircles the barrel, allowing the bearer to hold the firearm with the non-trigger hand without being burned, but excluding a slide that encloses the barrel;
(D) A muzzle brake or muzzle compensator; or

There goes any of the compensated pistols from Glock, Sig, etc. Almost all Open guns from IPSC

(E) The capacity to accept a detachable magazine at some location outside of the pistol grip.

There goes all of those fancy target .22 pistols...yea, they're a meanace to society

(4) A semiautomatic shotgun that has one or more of the following:

(A) Only a pistol grip without a stock attached;
(B) Any feature capable of functioning as a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand;

Does this mean the forward grip on all semi-auto shotguns? what qualifies as "protruding"

(C) A folding, telescoping or thumbhole stock;
(D) A fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5 rounds; or

No more "home defense" shotguns for y'all with the longer tube, even without a pistol grip stock etc.

(E) An ability to accept a detachable magazine;

(5) Any shotgun with a revolving cylinder.
(6) Conversion kit, part or combination of parts, from which an assault weapon can be assembled if those parts are in the possession or under the control of the same person;
(7) Shall include, but not be limited to, the assault weapons models identified as follows:

(A) The following rifles or copies or duplicates thereof:
(i) AK, AKM, AKS, AK-47, AK-74, ARM, MAK90, Misr, NHM 90, NHM 91, SA 85, SA 93, VEPR;
(ii) AR-10;
(iii) AR-15, Bushmaster XM15, Armalite M15, or Olympic Arms PCR;
(iv) AR70;
(v) Calico Liberty;
(vi) Dragunov SVD Sniper Rifle or Dragunov SVU;
(vii) Fabrique National FN/FAL, FN/LAR, or FNC;
(viii) Hi-Point Carbine;
(ix) HK-91, HK-93, HK-94, or HK-PSG-1;
(x) Kel-Tec Sub Rifle;
(xi) Saiga;
(xii) SAR-8, SAR-4800;
(xiii) SKS with detachable magazine;
(xiv) SLG 95;
(xv) SLR 95 or 96;
(xvi) Steyr AUG;
(xvii) Sturm, Ruger Mini-14;

Yes, now even the Mini-14 is banned. What was that about them not coming for your hunting rifle?

(xviii) Tavor;
(xix) Thompson 1927, Thompson M1, or Thompson 1927 Commando; or
(xx) Uzi, Galil and Uzi Sporter, Galil Sporter, or Galil Sniper Rifle (Galatz).
(B) The following pistols or copies or duplicates thereof:
(i) Calico M-110;
(ii) MAC-10, MAC-11, or MPA3;
(iii) Olympic Arms OA;
(iv) TEC-9, TEC-DC9, TEC-22 Scorpion, or AB-10; or
(v) Uzi.
(C) The following shotguns or copies or duplicates thereof:
(i) Armscor 30 BG;
(ii) SPAS 12 or LAW 12;
(iii) Striker 12; or
(iv) Streetsweeper.

As I have browsed various topics concerning the recent Democrat acquisition of Congress and Bush's anti-gun stance, I have considered a scenario to change the situation.

We broke Smith and Wesson when they signed that deal with the government. Public (gun owner) compliance with the boycott was very high and S&W felt lots of pain.

Why wouldn't such a boycott with ANY firearm or ammunition manufacturer that supplies the government work?

What would happen if the ammunition manufacturers all felt massive financial pain? What if they decided to cease supplying ammunition to the military and law enforcement agencies at all levels in order to avoid or stop such a boycott?

During the AWB, we still purchased Glocks with reduced capacity magazines. At the same time, Glock aggressively supplied the law enforcement community with cheap Glocks with regular capacity magazines. What would happen if Glock sales dropped to 1% of their current level?

Look what happened to Prohibition. There was MASSIVE noncompliance and the government had to give up. If we exert pressure through simple refusal to spend money on gun stuff, I think we could get them to back off.

Here is a web site that takes the monitoring of assault weapons to a whole 'nother level!

These guys say they need help, and I must say I agree with that statement. =)

UPDATE: From the FAQ:

Aren't you afraid an underprivileged urban-outdoorsman might break in and steal the rifle?

No, we have the rifle and camera setup in a secured office building with an alarm system. Besides, if criminals actually stole the weapons they later used in crimes, gun control laws wouldn't make much sense.

I'm dyin' here....

I was 145th in the President's 100 (283X6) due to my lousy standing score, 39th in the LEG match, (485X14), second best shooter (480) on the six-man bullseye team and did my job with few misses in Infantry Trophy. One of our shooters, Justin Utley, won the Alice Bull Trophy for an aggregate of the President's and LEG match. One guy finished his Distinguished Rifleman's Badge, a junior got on the National Junior Team. All-in-all a pretty eventful week for the Texas State Rifle Association Teams. We suffered our usual weak coaching including an inexplicable fireplan for Infantry Trophy. The coach loaded us light at 600, where hits are worth 4 points, and heavy at 300, where points are worth 2 points. We shot the match at our no-wind zeroes. If there was ever a day to roll the dice and go for beating the army, this was it. You don't see no-wind conditions at Camp Perry very often.

All results listed on the CMP site under National Matches.

On Thursday evening all the Texas shooters are invited to a free dinner hosted at Mon Ami, a pricey, fancy restaurant. One guy picks up the bill. This year there were about 70 shooters there.

Lots of Texans. Far from home. Heavily armed. What could be better than that?

No arrests, no firearm-related injuries, just lots and lots of folks shooting service rifles. I bought a few Garands at the CMP North store to add to my collection.

OK. On editing, maybe there was ONE firearms related injury. I was pair-firing with a teammate on the last pair at 600. We were shooting pretty well. He shot an X and my next shot hit the plastic spindle of the shot spotter in the X-ring and drove most of it through the target. One shard went sideways and tore a divot out of a guys bald head a couple of firing points down. They TELL you to wear a hat and safety glasses in the pits, but this guy opted for just sunblock.

He was from New York. They said pressure and a bandaid seemed to work after a little bleeding out. I bet a seagull ate the chunk of his scalp later that day.

Last practice this morning. I ran one of the new shooters through standing and sitting @ 200 on the clock and listening to the real range commands. I shot a 98 and a 95 standing. Rifles and gear are cleaned and packed. Now running 10,000 errands.

Sold a rifle for 1K so I have mad money, and I'm not that mad a person, generally.

Taking the redhead out for dinner tonight and then watching either Kirk Douglas in "Lust for Life" or "The Three Stooges meet Hercules". I'm thinking we gotta go with the boys.

Next Monday I will be shooting the Presidents 100 Match at Camp Perry. Ten shots offhand at 200 yards. Ten shots rapid fire prone at 300 yards. Ten shots slow fire prone at 600 yards. Top 100 out of the couple of thousand folks that shoot it make the Presidents 100 cut. Basically you have to shoot a 287 out of a possible 300. This is all with the standard AR sights, of course. No scopes.

This morning I shot standing and sitting at 200 practice. I filled out my plot sheets for the Presidents and the LEG match at Perry. I shot a 97 and a 99 standing at 200, then shot a 97X5 and a 100X7 sitting rapid. If I don't YFT, (yank the fucking trigger) and shoot smoothly I'll be OK at Perry.

I cut the X-ring with seven holes in it and taped it to the 200 sitting LEG match page in my score book.

Some guy down the range was shooting an M1A Springfield shorty that he said was going to a private security contractor that guarded Home Depots in New Orleans. He said LEOs were shooting 7 people dead per week in N.O. and that heroin was all the rage. I gave him an M1A tool out of my shooters box and told him how to not break his rifle.

One more short practice in the morning, then clean the guns and pack. Squadded practice on Sunday at Camp Perry.