Mayor Daley is apparently very pleased with the result of his latest gun buyback.
Category: Guns
Philadelphia Weekly Article on Armed America
Philadelphia Weekly has a front page news item on the photo book Armed America, which I talked about here a few weeks ago.  To have a major Philadelphia media outlet giving the front page treatment to something like this is the kind of public relations coup you couldn’t have come up with if you tried.
Michael Bane has more.
Loss and Liberty
Matt responds in the comments to my first Bryan Miller post:
Interesting, check out Mr. Miller’s lead post. His brother was Mike Miller, the FBI agent that was killed in DC in 1994.
Which means his niece is Dale Miller, who works for CeasefireMD and testified in favor of the AWB here last year.
We have a family here who blames the object and not the person. His loss, however, does not give him an unrestricted moral high ground. Taking him to task could get interesting.
Matt has more over at his blog too. I didn’t know this, actually, but it’s not too surprising. Many of core anti-gun activists are people who experienced some kind of loss through violence. It’s not something I’m unsymapthetic to, or can’t understand. Losing my mother to cancer when I was in college played a role in my desire to work in the drug discovery field. The desire to “do something” so other people won’t have to go through what you did is an understandable and even noble reaction to a tragedy.
But I do pretty firmly agree with Matt’s premise, that it doesn’t give him the moral high ground in this debate. Grief cannot be a reasonable basis for public policy, especially when a constitutional right is at question. As much as I might sympathize with someone’s loss, we can’t relent when someone uses that grief as a basis to remove other people’s liberty. That’s why, despite the fact that my mother died of cancer, I have vowed to give no more money to the American Cancer society. There’s things that are more important than my grief.
Reporters Sees the Light
Rob links to a great media piece on a reporter making a range trip, and has some good commentary.
Types of FFLs
Dano wants to know what the types of FFL are, and about C&R. So here they are:
Type 01 – Dealer in Firearms
Type 02 – Pawnbrokers
Type 03 – Collectors of Curios and Relics
Type 06 – Manufacturer of Ammunition for Firearms
Type 07 – Manufacturer of Firearms
Type 08 – Importer of Firearms or Ammunition
Type 09 – Dealer in Destructive Devices
Type 10 – Manufacturer of Destructive Devices
Type 11 – Importer of Destructive Devices
The only one you can get being an ordinary collectors is the type 03 FFL, Collector of Curios and Relics. What are defined as:
- Firearms that were manufactured at least 50 years prior to the current date, but not including replicas thereof;
- Firearms which are certified by the curator of a municipal, State, or Federal museum which exhibits firearms to be curios or relics of museum interest; and
- Any other firearms which derive a substantial part of their monetary value from the fact that they are novel, rare, bizarre, or because of their association with some historical figure, period, or event. Proof of qualification of a particular firearm under this category may be established by evidence of present value and evidence that like firearms are not available except as collector’s items, or that the value of like firearms available in ordinary commercial channels is substantially less.
The ATF publishes a list of C&R eligible firearms, though anything over 50 years old is automatic C&R, listed or no. If they are on the list, you can order them from other FFLs, and have them shipped direct to you. You don’t have to fill out 4473, or go through the Brady checks. There are paperwork requirement, and you can be audited by the ATF for compliance with the regulations.
Holy Recoil Batman
I wouldn’t want to fire a .600 Nitro Express rifle. I can’t even imagine how you could shoot a pistol chambered for it, and not have this happen:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya7FiJc_NoU[/youtube]
Bryan’s Privilege
Bryan Miller is still pushing the notion that the 50 BMG and the rifles that fire it are menacing weapons of mass destruction in the bit I quoted the other day. Let me quote for you a section, but please, go see for yourself, and comment:
Finally, I know you guys will never get it…that society has a duty and responsibility to mediate between individual privilege (in this case, the fun of firing a big gun) and public safety (the chance that hundreds or thousands could be injured or killed by one man with one of these massively destructive guns). In this state, you’re a tiny minority. Thank God. The vast majority of New Jerseyans value public safety over your fun. Get used to it.
Privilege? Â Wait a minute, let me check my copy of the constitution again.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed
Yeah, I was pretty sure it didn’t say privilege. This is pure pants shitting hysterics folks. I’m quite happy to live on this side of the river, where fewer people are buying this crap, and we’re not looking for ways to outlaw fun.
Go comment folks, if you can. We can’t let their ignorance peddling, deceptions, and untruths go unanswered.  New Jersey may be a lost cause for shooters, but Pennsylvania is not, and Bryan is bringing that crap over here too.
Answer Me This
Been shopping around for some more .22LR, as I’ve been going through it like gangbusters lately. Normally I shoot high velocity out of the 10/22, but I want to switch to standard velocity. Main reason is accuracy. With high velocity, shooting at 100 yards, you can get some buffeting on the bullet as it crosses the sound barrier on its way to sub-sonic velocities. I don’t want to shoot match ammo, because it’s more expensive, and my shooting skills aren’t really worth match ammo.
But here’s a question. Why, almost universally, is high velocity ammo copper plated, but standard velocity is just lead round nose. Even the match ammo is just lead round nose.  I have no idea why this is. Do any of you?
July E-Postal Results
Conservative UAW Guy has the results. Came in third out of eight in class. Ahab beat my ass with his EAA Bounty Hunter by being a much better single handed shooter than I am. Billl only notched him by two. Denise shows that she’s quite the bullseye shooter, beating everyone by a hefty margin one handed shooting in the rimfire optics class. But it wasn’t enough to overcome Mr. Completely and his High Standard, who took the class overall.
Good shooting everyone! I anxiously await the next e-postal match. Remember, anyone can participate, and everyone should (even Macca).
Best 30 Bucks I Ever Spent!
I just signed up for trade discounts from MidwayUSA and Brownells, which should more than pay for the 30 dollar cost of the C&R FFL. Even though having a type 3 FFL increases your risk of a government anal probing, I think it’s well worth it for the discount, and being able to order C&R eligible firearms direct, at lower prices than you’d get from your corner gun store.
It’s one of the few beneficial upsides to these crappy laws: the C&R is a useful signaling mechanism to retailers that you take your hobby and sport seriously, and are likely to be a frequent customer. I certainly will start patronizing Midway and Brownells more than I have in the past, so it’s a good deal for all parties, I think.