From the Lucky Gunner Shoot.

Mz. VRWC from Great Satan Inc. at gun school:

From Lucky Gunner Shoot

A look at some of the targets.

* I kill me.

NRA hits one million facebook fans.

A front sight repair for $1.50.

were about eleventy billion cicadas. They scream when you grab them. I think they were mad that they weren’t the loudest thing there.

An analysis from Bob.

Also, the video is here. What a clusterfuck. One guy falls. The guys in the back run away at gun fire. One guy fires gangsta style over his buddies’ heads at a target he cannot see.

So, I and a lot of other folks spent the weekend shooting machine guns and taking a pistol class. The event was put on by LuckyGunner and it was a blast. Here’s a round up from others:

Our gracious host.

A round up of attendees.

Start them young: a kid shooting an MP40. Lots of pics here.

All manner of pics and video here. Keep scrolling.

There were tanks!

And more pics.

Video of the Kriss Vector.

Oleg took more pics.

I won a Gunnie Award from LuckyGunner in the entertainment category, which is weird because I do this to entertain me, not you. Thanks to those of you who voted.

Anyway, the trophy is really cool and you can see one here. It’s made by TechnoFrames and it’s possibly my new favorite thing. Both ends come off so you can store ammo in your ammo (yo dawg). Very solid and something fun to talk about.

Wishing death on their opponents.

Music Box Automata Pistol

Aug sales to continue in US

Slingshot of mass destruction.

While at the LuckyGunner shoot, I had just learned that they loaded the appliances, cars and other things we were shooting at with tannerite so they explode. Sweet. So I want to tell folks. But I managed to tell a group of folks who already knew that. And the conversation goes like this:

Me: They loaded the targets with tannerite!

Les: Is there an echo in here?

Me: Well, people like to tell me things and I like to repeat them. Perhaps you’ve read my blog?

At gun school, tom the instructor on clearing guns: don’t look in the fiery death end.

The targets explode

At the LuckyGunner shoot. I shot a school bus with a machine gun. And shot a full auto glock.

A form letter.

Tit for tat, I suppose.

A couple years back, we had a tree fall. It fell and split one of my fence posts in two pieces and took out two sections of the fence. I managed to salvage the two sections but the post (originally 6 feet long, and 6×6 inches) was DRT. One of the two broken pieces was about 4 feet long. So, I did what anyone would do. I put them in the trash. Now, in The City (My The City), as part of your property taxes, they do weekly trash pickup. I came home and noticed they had emptied the trash but tossed these two half posts in my front yard. So, I put them back in the trash can and figured I’d try again.

I did that four or five times. Come home on trash day, see posts thrown in my yard, put back in trash can. Repeat.

Finally, I took the two posts and tossed them in the street. And the city picked them up the next day. Lesson learned.

So, at it again. Our property backs up to a creek, which we have discovered is a wetland or something. When we moved in, we had the idea to put a small pump in it and use the water for a sprinkler system. Hired a contractor and everything. After we realized that we had to fill out forms, get approval from state and fed agencies, do detailed plans, take photos, blah blah, we realized something. We should have just done it ourselves. But we didn’t since I figured I had alerted the authorities to my sinister plans.

Anyway, part of the creek that we do not own has always had an old tire in it that looked pretty buried. The other day, The Mrs. decided to try to pull the tire out. And, lo and behold, it came out. So, she put the tire in the trash. I come home yesterday, and those diligent folks at Engineering And Public Works have tossed it in my yard.

I’m going to go throw it back in the creek.

Choosing a gun. I’m a fan.

Fighting trousers:

Probably the funniest thing I’ve seen in a bit. I had to buy the album. Via everyone on the internet.

No, no Jazz solo. This is supposed to be a diss song.

PATRIOT Act passes despite some upstart’s attempts to end it. Hats off to you, Mr. Paul. You did try.

In an update to this and this, Rachel from NRA emails:

As often happens with complex issues, NRA’s position on Sen. Rand Paul’s defeated PATRIOT Act amendment is being mis-reported by those who either don’t understand the facts, or prefer their own version of “facts.”

This amendment was rejected by 85 Senators, which included many of the strongest Second Amendment supporters in the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, Senator Paul chose not to approach us on this issue before moving ahead. His amendment, which only received 10 votes, was poorly drafted and could have resulted in more problems for gun owners than it attempted to fix. For this reason, the NRA did not take a position on the amendment.

To be more specific about the amendment and its problems, the amendment would have prohibited use of PATRIOT Act legal authority for any “investigation or procurement of firearms records which is not authorized under [the Gun Control Act].” There have been no reports of the current PATRIOT Act being abused with respect to firearms records, however supporters suggested a far-fetched scenario in which every firearms sales record in the country–tens or hundreds of millions of documents dating back to 1968–could be sought. Again, we nor anyone else is aware of any case in which this authority has been used to abuse gun owners. (In fact, published reports indicate that few of these orders are ever sought for any reason.)

In particular, the amendment appeared to be aimed at so-called “section 215 letters”–orders from the FBI requiring the disclosure of “tangible things” such as records and documents.

Under the current PATRIOT Act, an application for this type of order with respect to firearms sales records has to be approved no lower than the director or deputy director of the FBI, or the Executive Assistant Director for National Security. The application is made to a federal judge based on “a statement of facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the tangible things sought are relevant to an authorized investigation … to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a United States person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.” The judge has the power to modify the order and must direct the use of “minimization procedures” to protect the privacy of Americans.
If the Paul amendment were adopted, the FBI would have used other ways to access whatever firearms records it might need for intelligence or anti-terrorism investigations. This is especially troublesome for gun owners.

This would result in United States Attorneys simply demanding the same records through grand jury subpoenas, which require no judicial approval before issuance. Fighting a subpoena after the fact can be very costly and carries legal risks of its own, including possible charges for obstruction of justice.

Even worse, the government would have used the Gun Control Act’s provision that allows the Attorney General to “inspect or examine the inventory and records of [a licensee] without … reasonable cause or warrant” during a criminal investigation. That means by simply characterizing its activities as a “criminal investigation,” it would enter a licensee’s premises and demand these records without “reasonable cause or warrant”–in other words, without judicial oversight of any kind, and without any of the procedural limits imposed by the PATRIOT Act.

Therefore, given all of these potential problems for gun owners, the NRA could not support this poorly drafted amendment.

As I said, not seen the amendment but that sounds reasonable to me.

And is wrong.

The Most Busted Name In News is going on about how the law allows companies and trusts to purchase NFA weapons without chief law enforcement officer sign off. At least I think so. They seem to be conflating background checks and CLEO sign off. Regardless, they’re very concerned that you can by safety devices without getting permission from the local sheriff. Or, more likely, that you can get them at all.

Any way, their piece is so conflated and full of misinformation that it’s mostly useless. And I honestly cannot tell if the reporters are just stupid and lazy or if someone fed them the wrong info.

Someone should ask this guy.

Must be one deadly backpack.

Excellent:

A New Jersey judge today announced he will issue a gun permit to one of the plaintiffs in a Second Amendment Foundation lawsuit against several New Jersey officials for deprivation of civil rights under color of law, because applicants cannot show a “justifiable need” for a permit.

SAF Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb said today this “clearly indicates that our lawsuit is proper, and we are encouraged to press our case to its conclusion.”

Judge rules MI library no gun policy is legal. I guess no more carrying shotguns there.

Jacob Sullum:

In Oregon, you are legally allowed to kill yourself, but only if you are officially certified as terminally ill, beg for permission from state-appointed medical gatekeepers, and take an overdose of doctor-prescribed barbiturates. This is known as Death With Dignity.

Heh.

Dr. Helen looks at the issue. Whenever you’re reacting in self-defense, you are losing.

Very cool.