More booth babes.

Obama will sign a pro gun bill into law today. Sadly, it’s attached to the stupid credit card reform bill. But it’s a bit odd to see Obama doing something pro-gun. Even if it’s for the wrong reasons.

These grapes, they taste sour.

Bruce Krafft:

It is sad that the old media is so used to ‘astroturf’ that they can’t even recognize true grass-roots activism in action.

The feds want to regulate blogs. Because some folks give bloggers free stuff and then bloggers may say nice things about their products. Sounds kinda silly. I guess some folks could say that they’ll give you free stuff on the condition that you say nice things. But I’ve never experienced that. I’ve written reviews on various products and books and things. And never felt swayed to lie or anything like that.

Disclosure: Obviously, I’ve gotten stuff for free due to this blog (training with Todd Jarrett, some Blackhawk stuff, books, etc.). But not a single company who’s given me stuff has said that it’s free as long as I write nice things about it. It’s always been understood that I would probably write about it but never once demanded. And I’ve always written about the stuff truthfully. It’s not hard to understand that if a gun nut gets gun things he’s probably going to like the gun things.

Remember that? Paul Helmke said it about passing more gun laws after the November elections. He could taste the coming gun laws. But, you know, a funny thing happened. Not a whole lot.

So says the Violence Policy Center. Well, they didn’t mean to say it. But, you know, when they’re not passing off Google searches as research, they find some interesting stuff.

A look at the gun shows as sources for crime weapons.

Kevin says details will soon follow on how to win a ParaUSA GI Expert.

Deadly paper!

Breda: I had been humiliated for nothing. Nothing

Ahab has some pics.

The Guav and Mrs. Gauv.

Direct wine shipments bill going to governor. Can’t buy in grocery stores though.

The NYT:

President Obama told human rights advocates at the White House on Wednesday that he was mulling the need for a “preventive detention” system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to national security but cannot be tried, two participants in the private session said.

Obama seems to be a continuation of Bush. Hell, even Glenn Greenwald is noticing that too.

In Chicago, four people were shot. At a memorial for someone else who had been shot.

Beauty and the beast

HK 51

Stoeger shotgun video

Stuff I don’t get: pistol bayonet.

Video report from the NRA Convention.

Remington Model 597 VTR

Somali Cruise Lines

If this guy’s story is true, it looks as though he was fired for having a concealed carry permit. Not for carrying on company property. Just for mentioning he had a permit:

The subject of Kuhn having a concealed weapons permit came up during a conversation he had on or about March 18 with Sean Cantner, a new security guard at the warehouse, according to the suit. The plaintiff and Cantner discussed what type of firearm Kuhn owned.

The guard says he had a weapon on the property. He refutes that claim.

In Texas:

SB1164, a bill relating to the carrying of concealed handguns on the campuses of institutions of higher education, has passed the Texas Senate. The final vote was 19-12 for this bill.

Update: PSH:

Today the Texas state senate passed dangerous legislation that would force the carrying of hidden and concealed guns at public universities and colleges.

I’m pretty sure the bill doesn’t force anyone to carry a gun. But if it did, Peter “petey” Hamm of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership would tell you to drop out of school.

Heh.

Les Jones from his AR-7 post:

A 10/22 has more accessories than a teenaged transgendered schizophrenic.

The thing about bloggers, is we’re opinionated, contrary, confrontational sorts. And gun nuts also tend to be contrary and opinionated. When you put the two together, you’re going to have the occasional conflict. But it seems that we gun bloggers spend a lot of time and effort arguing amongst ourselves. The latest drama is addressed here. And it’s pretty much, I think, a misunderstanding. Now, I’m guilty of some of this gun blog drama myself (see a few posts of mine on the threepers). But I’ve avoided getting involved in these things publicly for a while now. Sure, I generally respond to some folks behind the scenes but airing stuff like that in the open is not constructive. It’s not beneficial. And the effort is better spent gloating about how Josh Sugarmann and Carolyn McCarthy are sad clowns. And these things tend to center around some blogging inside baseball that readers probably don’t care much about.

Seriously, can’t we all just get a long gun?

Meet Demand:

Every day, Darren Newsom’s three Bitterroot Valley Ammunition facilities crank out 300,000 rounds of ammunition.

It’s not nearly enough.

“I’m going about 100,000 rounds in the wrong direction every day,” Newsom said. “We probably have about six months of back orders right now.”

Newsom has been in the ammunition manufacturing business for more than 20 years and he’s never seen demand this high.

Squeaky’s blog is two.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel: your Right to Keep and Bear Arms is CANCELLED

Remember that sign I made fun of? Well, in OH, police are asking banks to post that same sign. Via Guav who states the obvious: Why would someone about to rob a bank—which is already breaking the law—bother to comply with the law concerning hoods & hats?

Kevin has a post about the Insight M3X tactical light that he won at the second amendment blog bash.

A policeman’s AR-15 did not discharge during a firefight when he pulled the trigger. An inspection revealed no issues with the weapon. My first thought was he left the safety on. But the round was dimpled. Looks to me like ammunition failure.

ETA: Aughtsix in comments says it was dimpled from chambering a round and not hammer fall. So, yeah, going with the whole safety was on theory. I either misread that or the article changed since yesterday when I first read it.

And punishing good behavior. That seems to be the result of this credit card bill that congress is rushing into law. From AP:

Every American with a credit card will see sweeping changes in the market, with limits on sudden hikes in interest rates that drive consumers deeper into debt. Even cardholders who pay off their balance each month may face new annual fees or lose out on lucrative rewards programs.

Yup. People like my who maintain a credit card balance of $0 will have to pony up for the guy who bought three plasma TeeVees, a Wii, a PS3 and all that other stuff on credit that he can’t pay for. And this is awesome:

This cements a victory for every American consumer who has ever suffered at the hands of the credit card industry

That’d be senator Chris Dodd. It’s funny for a few reasons. One, if you suffer at the hands of a credit card company, it’s probably your fault. You signed a contract. You should honor. Next, it is funny because Dodd wants to give folks cushy credit arrangements, which is something is familiar with.

Caleb is having fun

Lots of stuff from NRA blog.

Another tale of gun maker PR. Only, Charter Arms responds appropriately and addresses concerns by getting the gun approved. In their defense, it is a pain in the ass to get a gun listed in Cali, from what I understand.

But when pointing out that you feel a bit discriminated against based on geography, probably not too bright to include something like:

Needless to say, I was shocked. This is the kind of attitude I might expect from some drunkard when visiting the South, but not from a representative speaking on behalf of a company at a national show for gun rights.

You’re upset because someone implied that folks in Cali are sissies. But it’s ok to call us dumb, cousin-humping rednecks bigots? Good to know.

Tactical double barrel.

the child of a Sig 550 rifle and an H&K MP5 submachine gun?

9mm carbine that fits in a bag.

First rail system?

AUG Stock for 10/22

Woman kills an elephant with a bow and arrow.

Local knife business to check out.

Huh?

I’m a strong supporter of 2nd amendment rights and feel that gun ownership, while a huge responsibility, is a right provided by the Constitution. I don’t think people NEED AK-47’s or anything like that, and they sure as hell don’t NEED automatics, but who am I to tell someone what kind of gun they go hunting with, as long as they’re hunting for something other than people.

The Constitution provides no rights. It limits the .gov’s ability to muck with pre-existing rights. People don’t NEED lots of things.

Passes the house by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of 279-147

Good.

Update: From Kevin in comments:

The Bush Administration rule required among other things that:
The gun owner have a concealed carry license.
The gun owner carry a handgun concealed.
The state in which the park was located had to allow carry in state parks. (Not 100% sure about this).

The Brady Campaign sued and successfully blocked this in the federal courts.

Coburn’s amendment goes much further:

The Secretary of the Interior shall not promulgate or enforce any regulation that prohibits an individual from possessing a firearm including an assembled or functional firearm in any unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System if–
(1) the individual is not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing the firearm; and
(2) the possession of the firearm is in compliance with the law of the State in which the unit of the National Park System or the National Wildlife Refuge System is located.

Thus Arizonans without a license can now carry any firearm openly in their national parks and Texans can now carry rifles and shotguns openly (and handguns in their cars without a license) in their national parks since those activities are in compliance with the law outside the Park.

This must burn up the Brady Campaign – they won a battle and lost a much bigger war!

Well, there could be a veto.

Last night, Junior graduated from pre-school. The ceremony was entertaining and obviously all the kids were excited and anxious. I’ll miss that school; from other kids; to other parents; to the staff; the bye-bye buggy; the little knickknacks, doodles, and artwork she would bring home. Junior learned a lot of stuff there. She’s better off because of that place. In the Fall, she’ll be starting kindergarten. Where does the time go?

Lieutenant Colonel Victor J. Fehrenbach has been flying the F-15E Strike Eagle since 1998. He has flown numerous missions against Taliban and al-Qaida targets, including the longest combat mission in his squadron’s history. On that infamous September 11, 2001, Lt. Col. Fehrenbach was handpicked to fly sorties above the nation’s capital. Later he flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has received at least 30 awards and decorations including nine air medals, one of them for heroism, as well as campaign medals for Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He is now a flight instructor in Idaho, where he has passed on his skills to more than 300 future Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force weapons systems officers. $25M has been spent to train this guy. But he’s about to be discharged because he’s gay.

And if there’s a place that prides itself on ways to promote civil discussion, it’s Knoxviews.

Dave Workman:

Money talks and B.S. walks.

That about sums up the state of the gun prohibition movement in the United States now that the National Rifle Association has left town. But in its wake, according to estimates from Mayor Phil Gordon, the NRA left about $70 million, and enough good will to suggest that if the Violence Policy Center and Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence had shown up to protest, they might have been ridden out of town on a rail.

If they showed up for their own convention, it might create a tiny blip on the city’s financial radar screen, compared to the financial windfall produced by the NRA’s visit.

But 100-degree-plus temperatures do not make for happy protesting, especially when nobody is listening. VPC’s Josh Sugarmann issued a sneering press release, while Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign apparently didn’t say a word for public consumption. (Though one columnist suggested that Helmke missed an opportunity to exploit a shooting tragedy earlier this spring. He failed to exploit it during the NRA meetings, as well.)

Make your own thread protector.

* Wile E. Coyote School of Gunsmithing.

Over at NRABlog. Someone you might know is there.

In Alabama, the police department has found itself outgunned a few times. So, local citizens lend the police department their AR-15s.

You may recall the little dust up over HS Precision. If not, here’s the short version. And here’s the long version.

Well, at the NRA Convention, stingray decided to go ask them about it and got this answer:

No comment. That never happened. He was never affiliated with us. No comment. Move along. We do not include product testimonials.

A river in Egypt.

Looks like the amendment to get this passed will have to make it’s way through the house:

One amendment attached to the Senate bill by Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, would restore a Bush administration policy allowing loaded guns in national parks. That provision is not in the House version, so there may be discussions between the two chambers over the issue.

So, call your Rep and tell them to support this bill.

Heh: Defenders of Democracy Fail, Yet Again, to Convince the Polity

Les Jones looks at the AR-7.

Tom Humphrey reports some issues on the bill. Seems that some want to allow loaded rifles in cars and some want to specify that the rifle be unloaded.

So says Eugene Volokh.

Bitter has some numbers:

During the convention, NRA sold $861,000 in memberships. That’s a 62% increase over last year.

Someone shot at Harvard. No way. Guns are banned there.

Scientists say they found the missing link. Obviously, it was put there 6,000 years ago by God.

Don’t shoot bowling balls. Pins are OK. With handy illustration.

The new ParaUSA GunRights pistols look quite snazzy

Stoeger Double Defense: proof someone will put picatinny rails on anything.

A lot of Bushmasters.

Looks like the NRA is suing them again:

The City is being sued by gun owners and gun-advocacy groups because of a local law that says firearms have to be locked up or kept disabled.

Well, Heller pretty much settled that didn’t it.

No way. Obviously the Taliban got those from gun shows in Texas.

Barbara Boxer (D – that place that’s soon to go financially tits up*):

It is a shame. But you have to come to a realization around here that at this point in time, the N.R.A. gets the votes.

Gee, you mean more people are passionate about rights than are passionate about restricting them? Who knew.

* And you and I will probably bail them out too.

Popular television shows inaccurately portray violent crime. Odd. Based on TeeVee, I always thought most murders in the country were committed by affluent white people for either insurance money or because of skeleton in the closet. Or a random serial killer. Turns out, not so much:

When researchers compared the shows to the CDC data, they discovered the strongest misrepresentations were related to alcohol use, relationships, and race among perpetrators and victims. Previous studies of actual statistics have shown that both perpetrator and victim were often under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs when the crime occurred, differing from what the shows portrayed. Also, CSI and CSI: Miami were more likely to have described the victim and the attacker as Caucasian, which is misrepresentative. Finally, according to the CDC data, homicide victims typically knew their assailant; however, the television series were more likely to have portrayed the perpetrator as a stranger.

In Connecticut, they’re restricting your right to arms on certain days by closing the state licensing office due to governor mandated furloughs.

So, the only sitcom worth watching on TeeVee (My Name is Earl) is being cancelled. I gathered that show was still popular.

And ABC is remaking V.

Seems more like a fiat to me (pun intended).

I told you I’d start more recipe blogging.

This is a post about making your own barbecue sauce. This is a recipe that started based on a concoction my brother in law J-Lo (who has been featured here before) discovered. It has since gone through several iterations. This is the current version which will no doubt change as it does often. Fire up your smoker (optional but if you’re cooking some food on it, may as well cook the sauce there too). Phase one:

8 pieces of thick cut bacon
1 large onion, finely chopped
8 teaspoons minced garlic
5 tablespoons chili powder
1 – 2 chopped cayenne peppers. Note that these can be fresh or dried. I grow my own and the plants produce a lot. So, I hang the excess peppers from a string and let them dry out in the garage. They’ll keep for a very long time.

In a skillet, fry up your bacon. Eat bacon for breakfast because if you’re smoking some meat, you probably started early. Retain the bacon fat. You can substitute a stick of butter for bacon fat but why would you? Unless you’re a vegetarian. But if you’re a vegetarian, I imagine your need for barbecue sauce is low. To the bacon fat, add the onion, garlic, and peppers. Cook until the onions become tender. Add chili powder and stir. Cook for a few minutes longer. Remove from heat and allow to cool. You’re only going to allow this to cool because getting hot stuff on you can burn. After you’re satisfied that you won’t burn yourself, pour the mixture into a food processor. Hit frappe and allow it to run until the mixture is mostly liquefied.

Transfer the liquid to a large pot and put it on the stove. To the mixture, stir in the following:

4 cups ketchup
1 cup yellow mustard
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup honey
2 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons of ginger powder
1/4 cup Soy sauce
ground black pepper to taste (I like mine peppery)
Kosher salt to taste

Bring mixture to a gentle boil and reduce heat. After a few minutes on reduced heat, transfer to your smoker. And let it cook all day. I said the smoker was optional. If you do not plan on using one or don’t have one, no worries. Just keep cooking it on the stove. If you do not use a smoker, I recommend adding a bit of Liquid Smoke to add some smoky flavor. And keep it on your stove on low for an hour or so.

I like mine a bit spicy so I’ll also add some hot sauce on occasion.

You can use the sauce on any thing you’d put barbecue sauce on. Once the sauce cools, I transfer my sauce to a large and clean ketchup bottle and keep it in the fridge. It will keep for several months.

In MA, a man is pulled over. He’s reportedly violating several of MA’s onerous gun laws. And the press and police focus on the fact he owns 30,000 rounds of ammunition. Well, people are stockpiling. But Todd Jarrett would call him a piker.

All guns are always loaded:

Samuel Benally Jr. was at an apartment on West Tacoma Street when he said guns should be kept unloaded because people could point them at their heads, said Sierra Vista police Sgt. Brett Mitchell.

Benally then demonstrated by putting his own 9mm Ruger, which he believed to be unloaded, to his head and firing it, Mitchell said.

23 years ago today, a provision that was slipped into the Firearms Owners Protection Act banned the transfer of new machine guns to civilians.

Update: Perspective on the bill from David Hardy.

Howard Nemerov: Violence Policy Center admits defeat?

The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Bill Brassard writes about the gun blogs:

Mr Jonsson interviewed media experts who confirmed that indeed the bloggers are a significant part of the current sea change in information distribution and consumption. His experience at the NRA show mirrors what NSSF has seen in recent years at the SHOT Show, where the number of bloggers has increased yearly and where NSSF, recognizing their value, provides them with press privileges identical to outdoor and mainstream media.

Gun bloggers were out in such force at the NRA convention that they rivaled mainstream media in attendance, causing Jonsson to observe, “Experts say that ratio at a major national news event featuring a panoply of GOP stars — including John McCain and Mitt Romney — presents a stunning affirmation of the rise of a mix of both partisan and fiercely independent and sometimes downright cranky “New Media,” marking its growing power to not only cover breaking news, but set the tone for political policy — and, in the case of Second Amendment rights, even the direction of the NRA itself.”

Scott Bach: Support Plummets for Restrictions on Gun Rights

And their stock prices are rising too!

Robb Allen on Josh Sugramann:

Yet even with all your organization, all the cash from your sugar daddies, even with the media printing your press releases like they were actual news, you still can’t get any traction with the most left leaning administration in this nations history.

Something you don’t see every day: A cowboy chatting with bicycle cops.

A post on how AR15.com helped change NRA. Joe DeBergalis was elected. He had support from blogs and AR15.com. Partially because he made himself available to forum guys and bloggers. He posted comments at both.

The AR15.com post doesn’t mention that their other endorsement of George Kollitides came in just about last place (supposedly. I’ve not confirmed that yet – but will). Kollitides was not exactly well-received by the a lot of the gun bloggers. Mostly because he didn’t interview, engage anyone, and his entire ‘campaign’ was a puff piece in an NRA magazine. And, surely now, his ties to Chrysler would be a detriment.

Booth babes.

Some festivities with pics.

Thoughts from TP.

Two shot at anti-violence rally. It was in a park too. Wonder if carry was prohibited at that park?

David Hardy on NRA membership:

The new president announced, among other things, that membership was increasing by 100,000 a month, and that over 10,000 new members had signed up during the convention.

Forgetting a magazine in your bag in AZ.

That’s awesome. But can she do this:

I think these people are on drugs:

The Parker/Heller cases were a devastating defeat for gun rights ideologies [in part because those decisions affirmed that a wide range of gun control regulation is both constitutional and permissible and because they refused to adopt a strict scrutiny standard for future regulations].

Ya know, they do, however, sound a bit like some pro-gunnies who like to say Heller accomplished nothing.

Losing your firearms license for not shooting enough?

In PA:

Two judges pleaded guilty on Thursday to accepting more than $2.6 million from a private youth detention center in Pennsylvania in return for giving hundreds of youths and teenagers long sentences.

Tree. Rope. Some assembly required.

Gun free zone follies:

As I have noted before, “gun free” zones are an exercise in fantasy. To some, a place without guns sounds like a great place to live. Unfortunately, others think they sound like a great place to plunder.

Americanized/Modernized Polish wz. 88 Tantal AK-74 5.45×39mm Tactical Rifle/Carbine. So that’s what TAPCO stands for. Err, wait.

Convention gun pics.

That’s how some in the press are referring to Mitt Romney with respect to his relationship to NRA. Mitt Romney has spoken at the last two conventions. He hurriedly joined the NRA on the presidential campaign trail and has tried to pick up the gun vote. Trouble is that Romney’s record on guns isn’t good. As governor, he never saw a gun control bill he didn’t like and he signed into law the state’s ban on weapons that look like assault rifles. No thanks.

Via David.

A journal of practical shooting and three-gun goodness. Here’s a review of the Tactical Solutions 22LR AR Upper.

The Christian Science Monitor is istorically anti-gun and not bashful lying about gun issues. There was that time they told us, for instance, that Obama’s views on guns lined up with yours and that time they lied about Florida’s gun laws and that time they advocated the gun industry create it’s own licensing and registration system. In fact, here’s a whole list of mentions of their anti-gun hackery on this blog. The list is long.

Anyway, I was a bit odd to see they were at the NRA convention. And writing about gun bloggers:

But here’s the real news: In the press box, bloggers outnumbered national reporters by a good margin. And officially, nearly 50 bloggers — compared to 100 mainstream print journalists — were accredited by the NRA press office to attend the 138th annual convention.

Excellent. But, really, there is no need for the press to show up? They’ll take dictation from the Brady Campaign or just reprint their documents as news items.

Who’s a sad clown:

“If you compare the pro-gun activity in the blogosphere versus the pro-gun-control activity, the scales have just tipped tremendously in their favor,” says Josh Sugarmann, founder of the Violence Policy Center in Washington, which advocates for more gun control in the US. “There’s much more engagement, more involvement, and they clearly have more free time than people on our side of the issue do.”

And you know what’s amazing? We do it on our own time. Josh Sugarmann is a reasonably well paid shill for an anti-gun group. And the only results from his efforts I see are a Huffington blog and google searches passed off as studies. What’s even more amazing is if you look at the list of goofs the VPC has made, you have to wonder how the press can lend them any credibility. I mean, assuming they don’t have an agenda.

It seems that Reasoned Discourse^tm could be in play.

Update: Comments are showing up now. Blog software approval.

Be sure of your target and what’s behind it: Memphis Police tell myEyewitnessNews.com that 11 year-old Deontay Smith, the little boy who was shot while playing basketball with his friends, was hit by stray bullets from a makeshift firing range.

Guy uses handgun to defend self. Guy was within 1,000 feet of a school, which is a violation of some stupid law that shouldn’t exist. Word was that he would be charged with that made-up crime. Turns out, the District Attorney knows that this is not the proper application of the “Gun-Free” School Zone law. Good.

Pants-wetting from the Violence Policy Center.

Ammo Shortage Doesn’t Add Up. Actually, I think it is that people are stockpiling.

Heh! Dude, you’re famous on the internet.

LaPierre on Mexico. A freighter full of AKs that didn’t come from Texas.

Bane has thoughts on the political outlook on guns.

CrimsonTrace makes laser grips for the Bersa.

The Nuge definitely didn’t do his homework when he published Marko’s piece.

I wasn’t there. But a lot of people were, apparently. For your perusing:

Dick Heller opens up the workshop.

The new Para series.

AR-15 Natural Enhancement. Heh.

New Glock

Various pictures from the exhibits (keep scrolling)

Got an extra $36K?

Lots of pics and reports here.

Famous people

More pics.

Breda meets Cam.

So, that’s the big thing Ruger was pushing. Some reactions:

NUGUN at the convention filming Bane’s interview.

Tam says wait and see.

Marshal’ette Halloway takes it for a spin.

A look at the gas system.

Oh my god, it’s a $2000 Ruger

Damn. Countertop won a nice gun.

Suppressors.

There’s actually ammo at the NRA convention.

SR556 . Piston driven AR.

I knew that.

Update: more here

Update 2: More pics.

More here

Joe with the pointer.

Conversation from the Uncle Household.

Me: You know how I always dreamed that Politically Incorrect Dog could talk and he had a deep voice with a British accent?

The Mrs: Yeah.

Me: Well, in my dreams, Flash sounds like Samuel Jackson.

The Mrs: Why do the dogs always talk in your dreams?

Me: Guess they got shit to say. That’s what Flash would say.

All the cool kids have Kel-Tec P3ATs. And take pics of them. But the really cool kids put lasers on theirs. I like mine with the CrimsonTrace LaserGrip.

From Robb’s review:

The laser was absolutely SPOT ON when compared to what passes for iron sights on the P3AT. No adjustments necessary. The fit was tight, and once screwed down, didn’t move a millimeter. The weight difference was unnoticeable and the switch unobtrusive. The laser dot was bright and absolutely perfect for this weapon. I highly recommend that even if you’re not a laser type person but you own a small, pocket pistol like the P3AT, that you look into getting a Crimson Trace that fits for you.

I concur.

I really dig CrimsonTrace.

Big Government or Big Government with a side order of Jesus?