Castle Doctrine Makes Its Way Across America: John Longenecker takes on the editorialists who are asking Texas governor Rick Perry to veto that state's Castle-doctrine legislation. "...Let's look for a moment at the outright hostility the anti-gun activists exhibit so clearly. Look at it not as a civil right issue - which it is - but also as a how-you-run-your-own-household issue..." http://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/03/24/castle-doctrine-making-its-way-across-america/ --- Montana Police Administrators Oppose Self-Defense Bill: "Ignoring pleas of the Montana organizations representing sheriffs, police officers and county attorneys, the Montana House of Representatives passed on for the Senate's consideration House Bill 340. The bill seeks to overhaul Montana laws relating to gun possession, use and self-defense..." http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/03/19/opinion/guest/50-legiopinion.txt The Reply: The president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association wrote a reply to this op-ed piece but the Billings Gazette won't print it. http://www.marbut.com/gazette/ --- Militia Versus Standing Army, The Biblical View: David Kopel presents a summary of the experience of ancient Israel with war and governance and how the Biblical account influenced the Founding Fathers' preference for a militia system over a standing army. http://libertyunbound.com/archive/2007_04/kopel-israel.html --- M1 Carbine Accuracy: For those fortunate enough to own one or more M1 Carbines, the Civilian Marksmanship Program offers a paper on enhancing their accuracy. From a cursory examination, none of the recommendations appear to be things that would compromise reliability. Note that CMP will soon be releasing a large quantity of M1 Carbines for sale. http://www.odcmp.com/Coaching/CarbineNotes.pdf --- From John Farnam: 20 Mar 07 On iron sights, from one of my instructors: "Making the rounds of the local gun stores, I am seeing the beginning of a dangerous trend. Defensive/military rifles like XCRs, Sigs, and FNs are currently being sold without iron sights (the FN has rudimentary back-up sights). I know this practice keeps costs down, and most new owners want to shoot with optics anyway. In fact, many recreational/non-serious hobbyists tell me that they don't like iron sights, because they 'obstruct the view through the optic.' Of course, that 'obstruction' is a vital piece of gear on any serious rifle. However, the inconvenient fact is that there is no substitute for basic rifle skills. We can't become so enamored with technology that we are helpless and unable to proceed when batteries die, optics break, mounts become loose, et al. Similarly, just because we have GPS doesn't mean we can forget about learning to read a map and use a compass. Serious rifle optics should be: Zero/minimal magnification. Mounted well forward of the shooter's face. Rugged and dependable, as well as the mounts Mounted so that they can be removed quickly. Equipped with clear, clutter-free reticles. Basic rifle skills must be preserved. Betting one's life on a single battery and circuit, with no backup, is the dominion of fools!" /John 20 Mar 07 Comments of Rifle Sights: "On a recent hunt in a remote area of Zimbabwe, I had the experience of picking up the 375H&H bolt gun I was using only to hear the scope rattle like a jar-full of pennies. It was a high-end, European model. Yes, it was broken and totally useless. I have no idea what caused it to break. In any event, we dug around in my PH's tool box, found an allen-wrench key, and pulled the broken scope off the rifle. Our hunt continued (further interrupted solely by my confirming the iron-sight zero) only because the rifle had iron sights on it. I know you were talking about military rifles, but I am equally distressed to see how few hunting rifles are wearing legitimate iron sights these days. It is a foolish omission!" Comment: Yes it is! I think manufacturers of military rifles, like RA, FN, and SIG, offer the 'no-sight option' mostly because all their rifles now come with Picatinny rails, and they want owners to select for themselves what kind of iron sights they will put on it, and where on the rail they will go, as they are easy to install at the user level. Trouble is, some naive owners never get around to putting them on. Foolish omission indeed! /John 22 Mar 07 Rifle Slings: Today, a friend called and wanted my advice on a sling for his new DSA/FAL. When I provide such advice, the question I usually ask first is: "What is the rifle for?" Put another way: "Whom are you trying to impress: your friends, or your enemies?" Quite often, new purchasers have failed to think that one through. Assuming your rifle is for serious, rather than recreational, purposes, we need to know the context. In most of our Urban Rifle Classes, the context is "Domestic Policing/Domestic Personal Defense." We also instruct classes in "Military Rifle," but that context is not the same. In Military Rifle classes, the emphasis is (1) functioning as a part of a team, (2) long-range, lethal engagement of enemy soldiers, (3) aggressively confronting, at gunpoint, persons of unknown intent, and (4) fire superiority. In Urban Rifle classes the emphasis is on (1) functioning as an individual operator, (2) constructively interacting in a non-threatening manner, while armed, with persons of unknown intent, (3) relatively close-range, lethal engagement of VCAs who represent a direct threat to innocents, and (4) careful, individual shots, keeping in mind that the our ammunition supply is limited, resupply is unlikely, and errant shots, by definition, are going to hit something we didn't want to hit. Within the later context, I have the best luck with a two-point sling. The one made by Blue-Force is excellent. Three-point slings may work fine in some military situations, but they do not lend themselves to a "grab-and-go" circumstance, as they take too long to climb into and get adjusted. One-point slings are fast, but the rifle tends to dangle." The best one-point sling currently available is made by my friend and colleague, Henk Iverson, at Strike Tactical. When using a two-point sling, attachment points need to be on the top side of the rifle, rather than on the under side. That way, the rifle will hang right-side-up when carried in front. The front attachment point needs to be near the front sight, but it may have to be on the left side, rather than directly on top, as attachment points on top obscure the sighting plane. Any good gunsmith can get this set-up installed. At the end of the day, you should be able to comfortably sling your rifle in front, or to the rear, and still be able to quickly mount it from any starting posture Also, while the rifle is mounted, you should be able to quickly shift shoulders without the sling getting in your way or preventing you from moving the rifle from one shoulder to the other. Without a suitable sling, your serious rifle is handicapped. And, after properly equipping yourself, you need to get into an Urban Rifle Course, with us or any other competent instructor, where you can run yourself and your equipment hard. Only then can you be relatively sure that you have respectable gear that is going to hold up and serve you adequately when it has to. /John (I recall reading, several years ago, an account from a British SAS trooper, who had served as an advisor to the Afghan rebels, when they were fighting the Soviet occupation of their country. He stated that one of the first things that they did was to have their local advisees remove the slings from their rifles. This served two purposes: to keep the rifles in their hands while they were moving, for immediate reaction if they were attacked, and to keep the sling hardware from rattling, giving away their presence. On my own home-defense carbine, the role of the sling is precisely to let the gun dangle briefly, if I should require both hands for some other task. I find a one-point sling the friendliest for shifting from shoulder to shoulder, a likely requirement if I should have to move inside my own home [note that the only other resident of my home is a German Shepherd Dog and that movement inside the home with a long gun is a task not to be taken lightly]. Since my carbine is fitted with a telescoping stock, the PR4 sling mount from Jeff Cahill's TangoDown, LLC, is ideal. On Jeff's recommendation, the sling is the Wilderness Tactical Single-Point Sling, which fits me best with a 180-degree twist between its points of attachment.) 24 Mar 07 The trouble with "ambidextrous" controls on carry pistols, particularly manual safety levers and magazine-release buttons: I recently acquired a copy of SA's little EMP as a carry/backup pistol. I like the size, and it runs fine, but it comes from the factory with "ambidextrous," manual safety levers. That is, there is an identical safety lever on both the right and left side of the slide. I know these are trendy, and many sing their praises, but I think they are a bad idea in a carry pistol. Accordingly, I'm having a gunsmith remove the lever on the right side of the pistol, as I am right-handed. When you carry the pistol in a waist holster, or even in a shoulder holster, there should be no safety lever exposed to the outside. Such exposed levers are inadvertently knocked into the "off" position with great regularity as the gun is carried, all without the carrier being aware of what has just happened. It typically happens when one sits down in cushy chairs, accidentally bumps into something, or stumbles and falls. When compelled to shoot the pistol left-handed (the ostensible reason for ambidextrous safety levers), I've learned to manipulate the manual safety lever with my left thumb. All right-handed 1911 carriers need to learn this trick anyway, as you never know which pistol you'll get to use in your next gunfight! The same caveat applies to "ambidextrous" magazine-release buttons. A magazine-release button facing to the outside as the pistol is carried is an invitation to a missing magazine at a painfully inconvenient moment! Again, this button should only face to the inside where an inadvertent release of the magazine is much less likely. In their unrestrained enthusiasm to be "everything to everyone," gun manufacturers often discover, as is the case here, that the "cure" is worse than the disease! As professional gunmen, the last thing we want is surprises, as an exciting "adventure" usually follows. Don't set yourself up for disaster. Leave "ambidextrous" controls to nimrods. /John (I remain unpersuaded by John's argument, at least in regard to safety levers. While I regard the 1911 as an obsolescent design [as others are free to view my own choice of double-action revolvers], that pistol is equipped with a grip safety, arguably making its carry with the safety lever in the firing position a bit safer than carrying a holstered Glock. After all, the ultimate safety device on any firearm is keeping the finger out of the trigger guard until the sights are on the target and the shooter is prepared to fire. As to shifting the thumb over to the opposite side to work the safety lever, that movement significantly compromises the grasp of the pistol and may not be feasible for small-handed shooters, such as John's own wife. Regarding ambidextrous magazine releases, I don't normally find them necessary because most shooters can operate a Browning-style magazine-release button, on the left side of the pistol, with the index or middle finger when firing the gun left-handed. John raises an interesting point, however, for the operator who wears such a pistol on the left side of his body - since this will place the magazine release on the outboard side with most pistols, care must be taken that the pistol-holster combination does not allow unintentional release of the magazine. Massad Ayoob, in his book The Semiautomatic Pistol in Police Service and Self-Defense, reports a case of an officer who was cut by an assailant because his S&W Model 39 pistol, equipped with a magazine-disconnect safety failed to fire after pressure from the edge of the holster depressed the magazine-release button and allowed the magazine to shift enough to disable the pistol. The manufacturer of the holster subsequently modified the design, providing a recess for the button.) -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .