No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.10.1/389 - Release Date: 7/14/2006 Do As I Say, Not As I Do: The New York state Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics has ruled that it is permissible for judges to pack a pistol beneath their robes while on the bench. (In most of New York State it is the judges who decide whether or not to issue a pistol permit and whether or not to restrict it, e.g., allow or not allow CCW). http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-15-judges-pistols_x.htm --- What Have I Been Saying?: Two New Jersey police officer are recovering from wounds sustained when one was disarmed by a motorist. Note that the officer who sustained the penetrating wounds was shot below her vest, in the abdomen and the legs, consistent with an excited or inexperienced shooter pushing shots low and to the non-dominant side. http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/story/6526221p-6377065c.html --- When Guns Are Outlawed...: The gang that carried out a series of commando-style bank robberies in the Washington area two years ago used fully automatic assault rifles that were smuggled from the battlefields of Iraq by a soldier in the U.S. Army Reserve, according to investigators. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0716robbery-iraqguns0716.html --- From John Farnam: 10 July 06 Coincidence, or something more sinister? In a booklet of advice to South African farmers, who were targeted for extermination by the ANC during the Apartheid era (and continuing today, now that the ANC IS the government!), one stanza reads, "Don't con yourself into thinking you're too insignificant to be targeted." A Soviet infantry manual, dating from the 1930s, puts it this way, "Don't touch anything unnecessarily. Beware of pretty girls in dance halls, bicycles, revolvers, uniforms, dead horses, and men lying on roads. They are not there accidentally!" "Paranoia" is a mental disorder, characterized by irrational belief in delusory threats. Taking reasonable precautions in an effort to protect oneself against known, active threats, endemic to Planet Earth, is not a manifestation of paranoia, although the shallow and naive always identify it as such, usually in an effort to convince themselves more than to convince you. I've been asked more than once, "Since you go armed and keep guns in your home in a high state of readiness, may I assume you have no faith in the police department?" I customarily reply, "Because you keep a fire extinguisher in your home, may I assume you have no faith in the fire department?" When it comes to protecting my life, the only one I'll ever have, I leave little to chance, and I'm not about to believe that someone else cares about me more than I do. In the end, we're all dead anyway, but it's a tough and dangerous world in the interim, and, while some day, I'm confident my body will succumb to bacterial attack, I'm determined that it not succumb to criminal attack between then and now. I consider my life too precious for that! As professional gunmen therefore, we have to be cynical, shrewd, and wary, while at the same time being appreciative, inquisitive, and caring, taking full advantage of all this life has to offer. Only fools sit on the sidelines. On the other hand, only fools con themselves or allow themselves to be conned by others, and only fools permit fear to drive them to inaction, and maybe crazy (paranoid?) too! "When young, I worried about making mistakes. When old, I wish I'd made more!" /John 14 July 06 S&W M&P AR-15 We just completed a Patrol Rifle Course with a Sheriff's Department here in Colorado. They have seven, brand-new S&W M&P AR-15s (223), three of which were equipped with EOTechs. After several hundred rounds of hard, strenuous use, all worked perfectly. The system is well accepted and well liked by deputies. Along with their new M&P Pistol, S&W has a sound system here. S&W is back! /John (The usual caveat: It's a good idea to wait at least one year to allow the bugs to be ironed out of a new model of firearm. My late grandfather used to say, "Differences of opinion are what make horse races." I am aware of different opinions of the EOTech holographic sight. On any piece of equipment of this sort, take a look at it from the target's perspective and make sure that it doesn't advertise you as a target.) 14 July 06 20ga Buckshot On the recommendation of our good friend and colleague, Marty Topper, I got a supply of Federal Premium 20ga 3" #2 Buckshot rounds. This ammunition is designed to deliver tight patterns, extending the usual range of 20ga buckshot (fifteen meters) to twenty-five meters. It delivers in spades! Shooting next to 12ga shotguns with 00 Buckshot, Vicki's 20ga Mossberg pump with this new Federal ammunition hit with comparable force, spinning Safe Direction's Rotating Targets handily. For those with 20ga shotguns, this is the way to go. Highly recommended! /John (Be aware that the 3" 20-gauge shell is the magnum loading and may not chamber in all guns. The standard 2 3/4" 20-gauge buckshot load packs 20 pellets of #3 buck [.25-caliber, ~23.4 gr./pellet]. The 3" magnum load packs 18 pellets of #2 buck [.27-caliber, ~29.4 gr/pellet]. A 2 3/4" standard 12-gauge 00 load packs 9 pellets [.33-caliber, ~53.8 gr./pellet]. One of the few areas in which I tend to agree with FirearmsTactical.com is their evaluation of buckshot loads[http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs10.htm], at least with respect to shot size. The linked page is nearly eight years old and may not reflect the latest products on the market.) -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .