Starting a campfire with blackpowder leads to minor injuries at local school.

With video goodness.

ABA Journal:

Mark Levy, counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of Kilpatrick Stockton who chaired the firm’s Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Practice, has died in an apparent suicide at the firm’s offices this morning, Legal Times is reporting, citing lawyers at the firm. According to Above the Law, the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.

Mark Levy argued on behalf of the Clinton Department of Justice for the Brady Bill that required waiting periods and background checks on the purchase of handguns.

A new kind of spam is hitting the blog. They’ll actually use the name of a frequent commenter (they’re particularly fond of straightarrow), copy a comment verbatim, then add something like ‘great post’ at the end. And the URL for their name will be some spam site. Anyone else experiencing that?

Today, we register Junior for kindergarten. Can you believe that? Me neither.

Trouble with the S&W M&P pistols from the LA Sheriff’s department.

The M&P is on California’s list of safe guns.

Well, can you field strip a weapon with your feet?

Lots of stuff from Rivrdog. Keep scrolling.

A bill in TN to require someone subject to an order of protection for domestic violence relinquish their firearms has advanced in the senate. That’s right. No conviction, no jury of peers, just an order of protection based on one person’s word over another.

in government controls. Says Spitzer:

This prompts a simple question: Why do we buy guns from companies that permit their products to be sold to bad guys?

In this era of government ownership of financial institutions, we are getting more used to the notion that government as an economic actor can exercise its power in differing ways. After all, firms that received TARP money are subject to a bevy of pay restrictions—wisely constructed or not—and were forced to cancel showy parties and retreats.

If we can use a capital infusion to a bank as an opportunity to control executive compensation and to limit use of private planes, why can’t the government use its weight as the largest purchaser of guns from major manufacturers to reward companies that work to keep their products out of criminals’ hands? Put another way, if it is too difficult to outlaw bad conduct through statutes, why not pay for good conduct? Why not require vendors to change their behavior if they want our tax dollars?

But then, who would you buy guns from? All of them or none of them? Companies cannot control what happens to their guns once they ship them. After all, it’s not actually like any gun manufacturer is complicit in their products being sold to bad guys. In fact, there are pretty strict rules they follow to sell only to qualified licensees and .gov agencies. This sounds good on paper to some government sorts but it’s really not going to be effective.

But it’s funny to hear Spitzer going on about bad guys. I mean, aren’t Johns and money launderers bad guys? Consider the source.

Orrin Hatch says gun owners are misrepresented.

Seems Josh Sugarmann is all sad because the Obama administration isn’t pursuing the gun control. I’m thinking maybe Obama meant some of his campaign rhetoric on guns now.

Also, what is that thing in the picture? Seriously, what the Hell is that?

Whenever “bill of rights” is used a suffix, it usually has nothing to do with rights and is often because someone thinks you’re too stupid to make your own decisions. The latest is the credit card holders’ bill of rights.

Lost in the whole Mexican Gun Canard thing is this bit of truth from ridefast:

Even if every single gun, knife and throw able rock in Mexico came from a single gun shop in southern California, it does not justify one more gun restricting law in the United States.

How many and who owns them?

Wait, what?

Pirate time.

Cruise ship captain issues handguns to crew. Crew fends off pirates.

And if that doesn’t work, pirates can apparently be repelled with deck chairs.

In DC, they’re giving people tickets for parking in their own driveways.

Crossbow upper for an AR. Or you should just buy a crossbow.

And a bayonet for a pistol?

Precision rifle clinic: Day 1

A report and lots of pics from Kevin.

Squeaky has posted a photo set here.

I’ve noticed a bit of chatter about atheists getting organized. It’s like they’re forming churches or something. Which is odd because I thought one of the branches of atheism was the anti-theists which tend to be more anti-church. The local talk radio had a bit on it this morning and the NYT did too.

Since it’s going to kill us all unless Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo do something, you should probably know a bit about it. So, that’s where labrat comes in giving you the skinny on the level ZOMGness.

More facts on N1H1 here.

And here’s a map. News this morning reported a case in Tennessee.

Also, I read an article that Twitter of all things is leading to panic. Ah, the internets. And it’s safe to buy pork products.

Citi is asking permission from the Treasury to pay bonuses.

The second amendment news round up.

A bill in Texas would exempt weapons made there from federal gun laws:

A bill by state Rep. Leo Berman exempting Texas-made firearms, gun accessories and ammunition sold within the state from federal regulation and law — including registration — was heard in a House committee on Monday.

The bill also provides for the Texas Attorney General’s office to defend Texans who run afoul of the federal government because of this law.

Montana has passed a similar bill already. Other states, including Alaska, Tennessee and Wyoming, have similar measures in the works.

In Iowa.

Rustmeister: The Journey of Cigar Discovery Continues.

Also, a handy FAQ on cigars, including building your own coolerdor and fridgerador for mass storage; and recommended cigars based on price range.

Unfortunately for some, this guy. He’s taking his students to lobby for gun control. Note the tolerance.

On the blog here, I have a category called Notes to Self so that I can leave myself notes about things. That does no good when you forget. You see, I forgot how much it can suck to put on Chapstick that’s been sitting in your car in the hot sun all day.

It’s funny. It happens every year. Remember the list that ranked cities by violent crime? Somebody always says something like notice how so many are southern? or that they’re mostly all red states. As though that proves that we red state yokels are all violent. Turns out, all 15 of the top cities in that list went blue.

Michelle shot her first CMP Match.

Israeli woman with M-16.

Red light cameras were never meant to decrease accidents. Just to raise revenue.

No, it’s not. But kinda funny how there’s always just a smidgen of truth in the crazy.

ATF is heading to the border.

Good:

The Tennessee House Finance Committee has sent to the House floor a proposal to close public access to names of people who have state-issued permits to carry loaded handguns.

In Australia, a man was shot 30 times. With a nail gun.

Beavertail for a Glock.

Chris and Melody are publishing a cookbook.

But, seriously, how does one break an AR-15 bolt?

At Subguns, how to clean a suppressor:

I cork (use a real cork , rubber will dissolve) , pour it full of carburetor cleaner and take an aquarium bubbler and stick the end of the hose to the bottom of the can , let it sit for however long and bubble with a plastic baggie over it to contain the droplets that come out the top and the finish on the can, secure the bag with a rubber band at the top. Next ,When you decide it is finished , take all the rigging off, then take airplane gas obtained from the local airport , pour it though with a funnel and the crud pours out . the gasoline leaves no residue and dries almost instantly . Good to go then.

Use outside and away from and flame , use black nitrile gloves as the kitchen dishwasher gloves will dissolve on your hands . Don’t get it on your clothes Safety first.

Ringing a bell at 240 yards with a pistol:

Not to mention what he can do with his Glock 30.

Lots of pics here.

A look through the scope.

A lot of pics here.

Launching an anvil.

18 -20 week wait on barrels? Ouch.

That’s what they tell us. But they lie:

Ban the sale, use or possession of 50-caliber or larger weapons, and creates a program to recall those currently legally owned (A.3211A/Eddington);

And John Lott notes quite a bit of gun control in NY. Are they trying to get it all in before the Chicago Gun Case?

That’s funny.

ACK on Jimmy Naifeh:

The Public Will Was Subverted Much More Efficiently When He Was In Charge

Whip: Workers Take Over the Means of Production

Arlen Specter will apparently do anything to stay in power. He has switched parties. Will his gun votes change too? He is A-Rated by NRA. This could give Democrats the magic 60 to be filibuster proof.

He says the Republican party moved too far right. Really? When? Seem to be headed the other way to me.

Interesting times.

From email, comes this from the TFA:

HB0962 Restaurant Carry

I cannot stress enough that we need more phone calls and emails to legislators about passing HB0962 in the House and Senate without the House restrictions. The Senate version of the bill strips out these restrictions. We expect, at this point, for the bills to be in both Houses on Thursday the 30th of April and to be potentially in and out of conference by that time.

Find your rep here and give them a call.

G4TV to look a the coming Zombiepocalypse.

We here at SayUncle tend to be a bit hard on the ATF. However, they occasionally do something cool. Recently, on Antiques Roadshow, someone inherited a pretty rare 1913 Winchester. Trouble is that the rifle had a 14 inch barrel, thus making it an unregistered short-barreled rifle and a contraband NFA item. But ATF was cool about it:

GUEST: Once my father passed, I knew that the rifle was short and I, like I said before, I had talked to the gentleman in Cody, Wyoming, and he said the best thing to do is be up front with the ATF and call them. And that’s where we went from there.

APPRAISER: That is the best course of action, is whenever somebody feels that they have a firearm which may be illegal, they should contact the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. What you do have here is you have a Winchester model 1892, manufactured in 1913, and these are extremely rare. All of these were made on custom order from Winchester. They were very popular with bank guards and express companies. Many of them found their way into Central and South America. They made other custom orders, like 15-, 16- and 18-inch barrels. Now, the good thing about those people that have the 16 and 18 inches is they’re not against the law. But what you’ve done here is you’ve contacted the ATF and they basically removed the firearm from the restricted list and added this specific firearm to the Curio & Relics list, which, in essence, helps you sell it in the future if you chose to do that. The 14-inch is probably the rarest out of all those firearms. There are probably only about a hundred of these…

That transferred to the C&R list to make it lawful. Excellent. A pity to have had that rifle destroyed.

AR15.com reports that member and blog reader Joseph P. DeBergalis Jr. was elected to the NRA Board of Directors. Congrats. Joe was interviewed by Sebastian here.

Joe really reached out to the various message boards and blogs. Looks like it paid off.

Lyle on Match Hollowpoints – Interior, Exterior, and Terminal Ballistics.

Turn your 10/22 into a Thompson.

Heh:

Since the Obama administration’s talk of banning so-called ‘assault weapons’ has resulted in a huge spike in semi-automatic weapon sales nationwide, the White House has recently begun a covert ‘whisper campaign’ suggesting the president might also ban U.S.-manufactured cars and trucks with fully-automatic transmissions, now dubbed ‘assault vehicles’.

So, Memphis and Nashville make the national list of most dangerous cities. I’m surprised Nashville made the list but keep waiting for Memphis to finally crack the top spot. This bit of information causes Aunt B. some pause:

And, frankly, it’s for this reason that I’m opposed to any gun control in Tennessee.

When you listen to why people in the State want guns, they’re saying a lot of things that we Democrats need to hear. Why do people want guns?

More Democrat bloggers like this please. Instead of prominent state Democrat bloggers who parrot the Brady Campaign.

The Commercial Appeal has started pooing its collective pants over the new bill to allow cities to decide if they want to prohibit guns in parks. This, even though nearly 80% of their readers support the measure (wonder how that happened?). I’d address their 1) disingenuousness, 2) hysteria, and 3) outright lies but Linoge already did. And more from Rusty.

NJ’s gun rationing heading to NJ supreme court.

Tom Humphrey runs down the NRA grades:

Rowland was one of 21 state legislators to get a A+ rating from the NRA in 2008. This can’t hurt her prospects for the next ratings.

Of the 21 rated A+ by the NRA, 16 are Republicans and five are Democrats. Only five legislators, all Democrats, got an F rating.

Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey is one of the A+ Republicans. Among the host of lawmakers with the less prestigious simple A rating was House Speaker Kent Williams.

Good question: Why can’t students say ‘guns’ in school?

Part one, from Squeaky.

Buckshot through a rifled barrel.

Knife killings up 50% in NY.

No more fishing with grenades in Afghanistan.

If there’s one thing that’s been blown way out of proportion, it’s Texas Governor Perry’s implication about secession. It does amuse me though that his comment was about Texas independence (not actually declaring independence but that Texas is a pretty independent place) and he goes and asks the feds for flu vaccine.

Via Guav, who wonders about other federal largess that heads to Texas like That $200 billion Texas got in defense contracts between 2000 and 2007? Well, I guess the nation of Texas would need it’s own defending.

Actually, I’m amused by all the secession talk lately as a mental exercise. No one who is taken seriously advocates secession but could it be done? The SCOTUS ruled that leaving only happened “through revolution, or through consent of the States” and secession was a no go.

DIY reactive targets.

News photos for gun nuts.

Kel Tec rifle.

First:

“Mary Norman, president of Auburn Heritage Association, said she was at her family’s burial plot in Pine Hill Cemetery when Councilman Arthur Dowdell removed the small Confederate flag from her great-grandfather’s grave Thursday afternoon.

“He pulled up the flag, snapped it in two and put it in his car,” said Norman, who is white.”

And:

Sarasota teen shot over Confederate apparel, police say

TDT reports that, since 2005, 1,200 Tennesseans who were issued handgun carry permits have had them revoked. I would imagine that more thorough search of the records by state officials is forthcoming given the recent bad press the Department of Safety has received due to reported felons with permits.

Failure Jimmy Carter says the only reason to own weapons that look like assault rifles is to kill police and engage in mass murder:

But none of us wants to own an assault weapon, because we have no desire to kill policemen or go to a school or workplace to see how many victims we can accumulate before we are finally shot or take our own lives. That’s why the White House and Congress must not give up on trying to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, even if it may be politically difficult.

Update: From Les Jones in comments:

An old-fashioned shotgun is all a fella needs to kill his sister-in-law’s cat, as Jimmy found out.

Wow.

Update 2: A cry for help.

What kind of gun owner are you? I think I would add tacticool wannabes as a separate though.

When campaigning, Obama said he’d not rush to sign any bills. He’d put them online for five days, review, and make them open to the public. So far, he’s 1 for 11 on that promise.

The trend continues: Assault weapon ban talk increases guns sales

Kinda neat. Also, before 1994, weapons that look like assault rifles comprised about 1% of guns in the country. Now, the AR-15 is one of the most popular sporting rifle on the market. I thank Al Gore and Bill Clinton.

So, this week’s killer of all people is swine flu. So, you know, go buy some Tamiflu or something.

David Hardy:

In the last three months of 2008, that’s right, three months, Americans bought enough guns to outfit the Chinese and Indian armies, combined.

Those darn bitter clingers.

So, Limbaugh is a spokesperson for the Humane Society US. Humane Society is anti-hunting. He’s supposed to speak at the 2010 NRA convention. So, what will NRA do?

Teens in Franklin, TN carrying replica guns for protection. The police are not amused.

Jewish ninjas too:

An Italian cruise ship with 1,500 people on board fended off a pirate attack far off the coast of Somalia when its Israeli private security forces exchanged fire with the bandits and drove them away, the commander said Sunday.

.380 ammo going for $1 per round?

State of California provides state subsidized training to a pornographers.

Tiahrt says to Holder: Read the bill and stop lying about it.

Via Jeff, comes Ted Diadiun, Reader Representative (whatever that is) trying to answer that question. He’s wrong. Trouble for Ted is he starts off using the term assault rifle. An assault rifle differs from an assault weapon in that an assault rifle is a medium-powered, select-fire rifle. Since it is select-fire, it is a machine gun in the legal sense. The term assault weapon is made up. It’s propaganda from anti-gun people. It used to have a legal definition but no longer does. The anti-gun Violence Policy Center summed it up best:

The weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. In addition, few people can envision a practical use for these weapons.

Ted continues with unsourced claims:

The pro-gun people say that an “assault weapon” is a term that applies only to a fully automatic weapon (one that keeps firing as long as you hold the trigger back). They say it’s inaccurate to use the term for a semi-automatic weapon (one that fires a single round each time you pull the trigger). They say the only difference between a semi-automatic hunting rifle and an “assault rifle” is cosmetic: Take an ordinary hunting rifle, switch out the stock, slap on a banana clip, put a flash suppressor over the barrel, give it a camouflage paint job, and presto — it’s an assault weapon.

Well . . . yes, says the ATF, which defines it like this: “In general, assault weapons are semi-automatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use.”

Note that Ted uses assault rifle but says ATF defines assault weapon. It’s interesting. Because the ATF is a law enforcement agency. As part of enforcing laws, there would have to be one with respect to assault weapons for them to have a definition for one. And they have such a definition written in past tense because the term no longer applies since the ban expired. So, I’d be curious to see where Ted gets his alleged ATF definition. It likely does not exist.

Next Ted breaks out the AP playbook err style book:

Taking its cue from that, the Associated Press Stylebook defines assault weapons as “firearms that feature two or more accessories such as a detachable magazine, folding or telescopic stock, silencer, pistol grip, bayonet mount or a device to suppress the flash emitted while shooting in the dark.”

Again, the term assault weapon is used. Not assault rifle, as Ted as used before. Now, that AP definition is, pretty much, verbatim what ATF said the law was. Which is that ergonomic features define what an assault weapon is. Now, it’s been a bit since I’ve seen the AP playbook err I mean stylebook. But last I looked assault weapon wasn’t in it. The term assault-style weapon was and the definition was exactly the one ol’ Teddy gave us. And that is unusual because the AP never actually follows its own stylebook with respect to reporting assault weapons. If they did, they would have been accurate. Five years ago. Now, they’re just taking dictation from the Violence Policy Center.

Will he veto or not is the question. The Governor has been pretty pro-gun. He was endorsed by NRA, signed castle doctrine into law, and signed a law that requires local chief law enforcement officers to approve NFA transfers. So, some pretty good pro-gun credibility. Folks are wondering if he’ll sign the various pro-gun bills working through the legislature now. I’m guessing he will. Capitol View tends to agree.

The Apache — A 19th Century Personal Protection Gadget

A bayonet mount to fight ninjas.

Got a new vacuum. Wife always wanted a Dyson but I always thought spending near $500 on one seemed excessive. But Big Lots has Dyson DC18 Slims on sale for $250 at their store. Granted, they are refurbished. Helluva deal, compared to other Dyson prices. So, we snagged one up. Does a great job. We had just vacuumed a couple days ago and so the floor should have been fairly clean. After I ran the Dyson, it looked like I’d sucked a whole cat out of the floor. It did that good a job of cleaning. The only problem I have with it is that the electrical cord is too short.

Gun buy back nets a live grenade.

So, you’re going to act like you shoot someone at the office as a gag. Pretty funny. Except for that guy who wasn’t in on it and cuts himself climbing the barbed wire fence to escape and then runs half a mile.

A big boom on video.

Another to head to the NRA Annual Meeting and blog bash. I’m bummed about not going this year. The list of attendees looks impressive this year.

Last night, I hooked up with Greg, Beth, and Greg’s brother at the Knoxville Cigar Company for some Gurkha’s and bourbon. Good time and good conversation.

Sebastian has detailed look.

NRA notes:

If you are at home with a collection of fifty or more firearms, it would be a five-year felony to “offer” or “exchange” a single gun — even between family or friends — unless you first registered with the BATFE and paid a fee, the amount of which would be at BATFE’s discretion.

First boomer.

Another day, another 500 explosions.

First, he tells a few police agencies he won’t sell them his firearms because of their positions advocating gun control. Now, comes this:

Barrett Firearms Manufacturing will not be accepting the state-funded grant that was recently awarded for worker training, said Ronnie Barrett, the company’s owner.
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Gov. Phil Bredesen and Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner James Neeley recently announced the awarding of $4,975 to Barrett Firearms Manufacturing.

As to why:

“Stimulus money doesn’t exist,” Barrett said. “That’s national debt that goes to our great-grandchilden, and I don’t want any part of it.”

He’s also been nominated to NRA’s board of directors.

A poll at the Commercial Appeal.

JR links up the text of the bill. JR notes:

After reading it, ask yourself this: Just how many gun show promoters will be willing to jump through those hoops to put on a gun show?

I think that’s probably the point.

SIH:

What does it means when you have an editorial in the US News and World Report that says gun control is unconstitutional, period, and the Baltimore Sun runs an article about the ineffectiveness of the gun control movement?

There is a GSSF match in Knoxville at the Volunteer Rifle & Pistol Club next weekend. I’ll quite likely be there.

Here and here.

Caleb has a bit on Getting started in competitive shooting.

People ask me why I don’t shoot competition and I tell them it’s because the math is hard. Still, I should just shoot whatever classes the firearms I carry fit in.

DOD reverses spent ammunition policy:

The U.S. Department of Defense has reversed a directive that would have prohibited U.S. ammunition retailers from purchasing used brass shell casings from the government — and at least one ammo maker credits public outcry for the change of heart.

Good.

NSSF has a bit on why the information should remain private.