Guns – Page 1116 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Why We Circle the Wagons

This article on Gazette.net is a great example of why there can’t be any reasonable dialog with anti-gun people:

â€˜â€˜We want to open the dialogue,â€ Lucas said. â€˜â€˜It seems that no one wants to talk about this. Iâ€™d like to see action by our legislators that really reflect the will of the people.â€

Sevier insisted the demonstration was not an anti-gun rally and that it included people of all political stripes. However, she said she personally would like to see new laws requiring background checks for people who want to buy handguns and a ban on semi-automatic weapons.

â€˜â€˜We are not anti-gun,â€ she said. â€˜â€˜We just want there to be reasonable regulations on who can have a gun in this country.â€

No, we’re not anti-gun at all. You’re all just paranoid! If this woman gets her way, my collection will be exactly four guns, and ironically, the four they won’t get are my two most powerful rifles, my shotgun, and the most powerful pistol I own.

They at least admit to not being experts on guns control, and clearly they know nothing about our guns laws or guns themselves, so the real question is why anyone would pay any attention to what they have to say?

Reminder from Countertop

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Illinois Gun Makers Getting Nervous

From the Quad-Cities online, it appears that opposition to the IL magazine ban is mounting:

GENESEO — When one of Illinois’ gun control bills finally broke through the Senate last week, it sent a collective chill up the spines of five local gun manufacturers and the 500 employees it could impact in the Illinois Quad-Cities area.

Last Wednesday, Illinois Senate Bill 1007, which bans making, selling, possessing, delivering or buying magazines that hold more than 10 bullets, passed 31-26. On Monday, local gun manufacturers, politicians, and representatives from the Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce held a press conference denouncing the Senate bill and jobs it could cost the area.

Apparently Springfield Armory is saying they will be forced to leave the state if this passes. Â Springfield is apparently Geneseo’s third largest employer.Â Armalite is also located there as well, with 85 employees.

Sen. Dan Kotowski, D-Park Ridge, the bill’s sponsor, said last week that the bill would limit the damage done by criminals.

‘Acknowledge the reality that there’s only so much we can do,’ Sen. Kotowski said. ‘There’s 300 million guns in the country. …Criminals are going to get guns. Why not limit the damage that they can cause?’

Are Park Ridge voters paying attention to this clown?Â So we can’t get keep guns out of the hands of criminals, but supposedly magazine control will be easy?Â Maybe if I take some more allergy medication this will start to make sense, but right now the logic eludes me.

Rock River Arms, Colona, has also said it would relocate if necessary. Les Baer Custom, Inc., Hillsdale, owner Les Baer was also present Monday. Mr. Baer is in the process of trying to move his business to LeClaire, Iowa. Two weeks ago, a Davenport Alderman said he spoke to Rock River Arms and Lewis Machine and Tool about moving to Davenport.

Geneseo Ald. Ed Deener, 1st Ward, said if Springfield Armory and ArmaLite move from Geneseo, ‘it would devastate us. Housing values would go down. School revenues would take a dive. It would be just like dominoes in a negative way.

‘It would have a ripple affect.’

That’s a lot of jobs!Â I wonder how many other jobs support these manufacturing operations?Â I guess devestating the town of Geneseo is just fine by the Chicago politicians, if it means they can avoid admitting that their local gun controls are a failure. Â I wonder how the people if Geneseo feel being sacrificed on the alter of Chicago’s delusions.

Looking for a C&R .22LR Target Pistol

It occurred to me to check the C&R market for a .22LR target pistol, since it would be easier for me to pick up something with my license than to run around to 20 different gun stores or wait for a gun show to find something I liked. I’ve discovered that the Colt Woodsman seems to be the most common C&R target pistol out there.

In good condition these seem to go from anywhere from 400-600 bucks. Anyone have any experience with these? Or know of any other C&R .22LR target pistol I should consider? I’d consider revolvers as well.

Suicide and the Substitution Effect

John Lott would appear to be in Japan, and has a very interesting observation:

A very common way of people committing suicides is for people to throw themselves in front of trains. I can only imagine the social costs of this form of suicide in that the trains appear to be stopped for an hour or so. It would be interesting to compare the costs of say Americans committing suicide with the cost of Japanese.

In the United States, someone determined to kill themselves will likely choose a firearm.Â It would appear that in Japan, throwing oneself in front of a train is how they get the job done.Â Also of note is that Japan’s suicide rate is much higher than the United States, despite a near prohibition on firearms.

I have little doubt that the availability of firearms increases the rate of suicide by gun in the United States.Â I have my doubts, however, that it is a primary driver of suicide rates overall. Â As the Japanese show here, there are plenty of substitute methods that are just as sure and swift.

The Psychological Toll of Justifiable Homocide

Dr. Helen is talking about the issue of stress police officers are put under, especially in the wake of justified use of deadly force:

Notice that the incident itself is not what makes the officer guilty and stressed, it is the media and public making their lives miserable. If even police officers are made to feel guilty for protecting the lives of citizens by our “don’t defend yourself or anyone else” culture and media, I can’t imagine how civilians who had to use force are made to feel after an incident in which they had to protect themselves or others. The article goes on to look at why officers are afraid to ask for psychological help, but maybe the real question is: “why is the officer treated as a pariah instead of a hero for protecting others from mayhem?” For if they were treated as a hero, or at least with some respect for doing their job, then maybe, they could resolve the shooting incident a whole lot faster or on their own without professional help.

In training, they always teach you that if you’re involved in a justifiable shooting, that you should expect to be arrested, and treated like a common criminal who has done something horribly wrong.Â In the case of a civilian shooter, administrative leave would be a picnic in comparison to having to fork over your life savings to pay for a lawyer to make your defense.Â The lawyer who addressed the class for the training I did spoke of a recent case where he defended a police officer in a justifiable shooting.Â The defense costs went well into six figures.Â Police officers generally get their defense paid for.Â Civilians don’t.

There is a perception among many people that no violence is justified, and who look down upon people who prepare for it.Â It’s not right, but it’s something we have to live with.Â I’ve always thought it odd that some police officers have problems with civilians carrying firearms for personal protection.Â The root cause of the problem is that few people have had to consider the circumstances that would surround having to use deadly force in self-defense, and even fewer have actually had training in it.Â I would be a police officer’s best friend on a jury in a legitimate shooting situation, because I’ve had to consider doing it myself, and I suspect most of the rest of us who have would also be similarly sympathetic.

Practicing to Go e-Postal

One of these days I would like to do one of Mr. Completely‘s e-Postal matches. Tonight I went to the range with the aim of seeing how I’d do. I’m not much of a presicion shooter. I generally practice to be good enough in a self-defense situation, but not too much on slow and deliberate fire.

I tried both my Ruger Mk.II 50th Anniversary edition pistol and my normal carry pistol, the Glock 19. I shot a few targets to warm up, because it’s been several weeks since I had shot. First I tried the Glock 19. This edition of the e-Postal match is Golf. The shooting was from 25 ~~yards~~ feet, weaver stance. My pistols have no optics or modifications. It’s all factory. I have to admit, this was pretty difficult.

Continue reading “Practicing to Go e-Postal”

Sunday Photoblogging

The USS Winston Churchill, which was docked at Penn’s Landing this weekend and which Bitter and I took a tour of. Apparently Armed Canadian was there as well, but we missed him.

USS Winston Churchill. An Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer.

Continue reading “Sunday Photoblogging”

Fun Range Time

Tongiht, after Bitter departed, I decided to give my new range membership an inaugural shoot. It’s quite fun to get back from shooting at 10PM. I started at 8:15 and ended an hour and a half later. I was pleased as punch to have an entire pistol range to myself for ninety minutes. One thing I’m discovering I need is a decent .22 target pistol. I have a Ruger Mk.II 50th Anniversary Edition, but it’s got a fairly short barrel. I’d like to get something with a longer one. If I’m going to be at the range a lot, and if it’s not crowded I will be, I need something I can shoot cheap. I’ll go broke shooting my Glock that much.

Illinois Doesn’t Age Discriminate for FOID

I’m a big proponent of introducing our children to the shooting sports, so that they learn to use firearms safely and responsibly, and learn what they are capable of. This is the best way to prevent accidents. But how young do you start? Apparently some people in Illinois have an opinion on this:

My 10-month-old son has the cutest FOID card.

Howard David Ludwig — affectionately nicknamed Bubba — received his state-issued Firearm Owner’s Identification Card two weeks ago.

The wallet-size card arrived in the mail about a month after his dear ol’ dad correctly completed the online form and sent the $5 fee.

As a FOID cardholder, baby Bubba can own a firearm and ammunition in Illinois. He can also legally transport an unloaded weapon — though he can’t walk yet, so that’s not an issue.

The plastic card has a picture of a toothless, grinning Bubba in the upper right corner. It includes his name, address and date of birth.

The FOID card lists his height (2 feet, 3 inches), and his weight (20 pounds).

His signature is superimposed at the bottom of the card. Bubba can’t sign his name, so I simply placed a pen in his hand. He made the scribble.

Now, I think it’s probably a good idea to wait until a child is a wee bit older than this before introducing them to shooting, but I can sympathize with a stay at home dad that develops a curiosity about whether the state would issue his infant son an FIOD card, and the giddy amusement when you find out the answer is yes.

Hey folks, we don’t make the laws, but we reserve the right to laugh at them.

But why would the state police issue a FOID card to anyone younger than 18?

I called the state police, who said they followed the law as it’s written.

“There is nothing in the FOID Act or any of the rules that says anything about age restrictions,” said Lt. Scott Compton, of the Illinois State Police.

The state doesn’t track FOID cards based on age. However, Compton admitted it’s a rare occasion when anyone younger than 18 would need a FOID card. Say a group of 15-year-old boys wants to go hunting rabbits unsupervised. If their parents approve the hunt, then the boys would need FOID cards, Compton said.

I’m not about to approve any unsupervised hunting or trap shooting for Bubba. Still, I’m glad he was able to get his FOID card.

It makes an adorable addition to his baby book.

Pennsylvania doesn’t require licensing for owners, but if I lived in IL, I’d have to be sure to get my kid his very own FOID card. Can’t have Junior getting jealous of the other kids ;)