Part of the reason trace data should be taken with a grain of salt:

“Officer, I am carrying a firearm in compliance with North Carolina law.” So began my exchange during a traffic stop. (Sorry, I have a lead foot.) He replied, “May I have it, sir?” Since this was before I knew enough to say “no,” I complied. The officer then took my gun to his car, traced it and, finding nothing amiss, returned it to me. MAIG’s report would have you believe my gun is a “crime gun” because it would be included in the gun trace reports on which its study is based.

Therein lies the scam: Although gun control advocates call gun tracing a measure of crime, traced guns are not necessarily “crime guns.” Says the Congressional Research Service: “Trace requests are not accurate indicators of specified crimes…traces may be requested for a variety of reasons not necessarily related to criminal incidents.” Indeed, BATFE encourages police to trace all guns encountered.

I have a few crime guns myself

You had me at M = e^{7.06×10-17t – 10.8}

Rocket surgeon Sarah explains why and she has math.

Note: The French theme today was not planned but sometimes it happens.

A few frightening bits from Ben Cunningham. First, a taxpayer funded group lists a job position that is responsible for:

developing a national strategy for combating anti-government/anti-tax efforts

And most TN counties are members of the group.

Well, they were last night, I suppose. Addressing ammo serialization.

Another Mayor Against Guns charged with corruption.

Thirdpower is running a list:

Passaic, NJ Mayor Samuel Rivera
Frank Melton, of Jackson MS
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
Birmingham, Al Mayor Larry Langford
Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon
Jeremiah Healey of Jersey City
Racine, WI Mayor Gary Becker.

Gun Ruler

Speaking of the French, the MAS36

A gun commercial.

John Wesley Hardin’s 1851 Colt

this one still makes me laugh.

Party above principle:

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy may be threatening a primary challenge to newly named New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand over her pro-gun stand, but records show McCarthy donated $1,500 to Gillibrand’s two successful races for an upstate House seat.

What if they had inflation and nobody came?

I hope not. But Chuck Schumer says so. So do the other usual suspects in the gun control pipe dream from NY. The trend seems to be something to the effect of she’ll change her mind once she sees the effect of gun violence in NYC. You know, that NYC with those restrictive gun laws? And still lots of gun violence. Why is that these sorts never seem to change their mind when they see that there isn’t much gun violence in, say, North Dakota, with some quite lax gun laws? No one ever asks that question. Even though that shift is more common.

Via Jay, who says: There’s nothing in Ms. Gillibrand’s voting record that anybody can point to that says she’s made it easier for criminals to get guns. Criminals can already acquire guns easier than law abiding people, especially in New York.

An update on their website:

The CAV-15 MKII receivers are back in production, after receiving approval from BATF Technology Branch for the method of affixing the serial number plate to the lower. We are currently filling back orders for our dealers and OEM clients. We will begin taking retail orders when all dealer back orders are filled. Please check with our dealers to see if they have in stock what you need.

Glad they’re back in business on lowers. But:

We are currently not selling complete lowers, or complete rifles. Our vendors for these parts have substantial back orders. We currently have no ETA for these parts. If you are concerned about impending legislation, buy a lower receiver now and assemble it into a complete rifle when the supply chain stabilizes.

Looks like a known tax cheat will be heading up the treasury. Wow. “Tacit permission for everyone to cheat on taxes.”

Lyle: the average person has indeed been made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons.

How is this possible:

For the second time in eight weeks, Alliant Techsystems is laying off workers at its Federal Cartridge ammunition plant in Anoka because of the end of an orders backlog, officials announced Thursday.

About 70 to 80 workers will be affected. In November, 40 to 50 workers were let go. Federal Cartridge will have about 900 workers after the job cuts.

The cutbacks are somewhat of a blow to Alliant Techsystems, which has prided itself on steady employment and sales growth. Federal Cartridge makes police and hunting ammunition sold through Wal-Mart, sporting goods stores and to dozens of police departments around the country.

Huh? Are they not paying attention to ammunition demand? Have they not been to a gun show? It makes no sense.

Hunting licenses up in Arkansas.

Carry permits up in Colorado.

Chris looks in detail (does he ever not?) at proper lubrication for the AR-15.

Heh.

In what is truly a sign of the times, a coach has been fired because he did not apologize for his team beating another team 100-0. And, amazingly, the press article yammers on incessantly about the losers and how it was so bad and shameful that the other mean ol’ team just kept winning.

Idiots.

So, to Micah Grimes and his team: congratulations on your victory. Seriously, someone needs to tell this guy and his team that, you know, effort pays off.

Update: From comments:

Nobody made the other team stay. They could have forfeit after the 1st half. They chose to stay and play; that shows character and perspective. Punishing the coach for winning 100-0 is an insult to the losing team.

Indeed.

CavArms lower photos from Oleg. BTW, anyone know if they’re selling again? I really want one of their pink CAV15 lower receivers.

LWRC PSD Rifles.

CCRKBA notes that the reaction of democrats to Gillibrand’s senate slot indicates that the Democrats are still the party of gun control. I dunno. There are plenty of pro-gun Democrats and plenty of anti-gun Republicans. I don’t like to paint either with broad brush. More interesting to me is that the reaction from some Democrats shows gun owners what they are up against. And that mentality, whether it has an R or D after it, should be a wake up call.

Meanwhile, Sebastian notes he’s liking these blue dogs better than many Republicans.

A bill in congress to, and I am not making this up, require a cellphone equipped with a camera to sound a tone whenever a photograph is taken with the camera’s phone. It would also prohibit such a phone from being equipped with a means of disabling or silencing the tone.

Jeff has the skinny on the bill. I doubt very much it would pass.

If you think money is cheap now, just wait. If this keeps up, it won’t be worth a dime.

Iceland’s government collapses despite an international financial bailout. Kinda scary.

A bit back, I asked for info on a good scope for a 22LR. Well, I ordered a BSA Sweet 22 with the illuminated reticle. Lots of good recommendations both on and offline. I really liked the Pride Fowler recommendation but it seemed a bit too spendy for my purposes.

I went with the BSA because, in addition to being reasonably priced, it has a bullet drop compensator for out to 175 yards (iirc). Should be a fun little scope. Will let you know after I try it out.

At Opposing Views: Would a nicer NRA be more effective?

Sebastian looks at malfunctioning semi-automatic rifles and NFA laws.

Constitutional scholar, author of The Founders’ View of the Right to Bear Arms: A Definitive History of the Second Amendment, and all around nice guy David E. Young is blogging at On Second Opinion. His first post is The Root Cause of Never-ending Second Amendment Dispute.

Some facts about gun shows. Rather surprising since it doesn’t fit the usual narrative.

Video here.