Mexican Drug Violence Versus the RKBA: As Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder visited Mexico on Thursday to discuss disarming Mexico's drug cartels, experts from both sides of the gun-control debate said the measures are missing the mark. "It's hard for me to take all this stuff seriously, considering how incredibly sporadic Mexico is about its own enforcement of its own border," said David Kopel, research director for the Independence Institute, a Colorado think tank that advocates for gun rights. The United States should pressure Mexico to stop complaining about border fences; crack down on corrupt Mexican cops who sell their weapons; and stop tolerating migrant smugglers, Kopel and other gun-rights advocates say... Mexico also needs to crack down on Mexican police and military deserters who take their weapons with them, said Chris Cox, chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association. Rocket-propelled grenades, anti-tank weapons and fully automatic assault rifles are hard to obtain in the United States and are likely coming from somewhere else, he said. "These are things that are either coming from the Mexican government - the military or police deserters who have gone to work for the cartels - or from Central or South America," Cox said. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/04/03/20090403mexicoguns0403.html While it is frequently reported that 90 percent of the guns used in drug-cartel violence in Mexico come from the United States, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told CNSNews.com that the number is defined in a very strict way, referring only to gun information relayed by Mexican authorities to the ATF. An ATF spokesperson explained to CNSNews.com that the bureau does not actually count, acquire, inspect, or warehouse the weapons confiscated in Mexico; and it does not know for sure how many guns in total have been confiscated by Mexican authorities, or how many confiscated guns may not have serial numbers. Also, the ATF spokesperson said there are warehouses in Mexico full of confiscated guns, the serial numbers for which may or may not have been sent to the bureau... http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=46080 --- Campus Carry Still Pending in Texas: Holders of concealed handgun licenses could bring their weapons to college campuses if Rio Grande Valley lawmakers have their way. A proposal working its way through the state Legislature would lift a ban on handguns on campuses of both private and public institutions. Proponents of the bill view it as a way to preserve gun owners' rights while promoting safety on campus, arguing that if students or staff on campus had weapons, they would have a better chance defending themselves against a Virginia Tech-style shooting. Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview, one of the bill's co-authors, said he views the measure as a "defensive mechanism" at universities... http://www.themonitor.com/articles/campus_25043___article.html/way_shooting.html --- Lance Thomas Speaks: Those who have read The Deadliest Men will likely agree that the chapter on Lance Thomas is the best, probably because it was the only one based on actual interviews. While that chapter is much more comprehensive, this Discovery Channel segment is worth watching. Notice the diversity of handguns he purchased, not a choice I would recommend. Placing multiple guns on the limited-access countertop seems to have worked for Lance but I would want to have at least one holstered handgun on my person, which would have been legal in California, at one's own place of business, even without a CWP. I am still amazed that the knuckleheads kept hitting the store, even though it was common knowledge that other robbers had died there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkWgp2abM2w --- Some Thoughts on Trigger Control: More attention should be given to one of the most fundamental shooting skills - trigger control. I've come to realize that trigger control is not well understood. In an article on a gun forum, for example, the author stated that trigger control was not at all important. According to the author, police gunfights occur at such close ranges that worrying about trigger control is unnecessary. My thoughts: If you don't properly control the trigger, the muzzle will go off target and you will miss... (In my analysis, the most important contribution of resetting the trigger or "catching the link," as John Farnam calls it, is that it ensures that the trigger finger does not fly off the trigger and sympathetically relax the grip on the gun at the moment that the gun fires. This is particularly crucial with an autoloading pistol, which may fail to cycle if this occurs. In my observation, this is much more crucial than whether the wrist is "locked" or loose.) http://www.lawofficer.com/news-and-articles/articles/lom/0503/firearms_trigger_control.html --- Tangentially Related: A pair of bills introduced in the U.S. Senate would grant the White House sweeping new powers to access private online data, regulate the cybersecurity industry and even shut down Internet traffic during a declared "cyber emergency." Senate bills No. 773 and 778, introduced by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., are both part of what's being called the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, which would create a new Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor, reportable directly to the president and charged with defending the country from cyber attack. A working draft of the legislation obtained by an Internet privacy group also spells out plans to grant the Secretary of Commerce access to all privately owned information networks deemed to be critical to the nation's infrastructure "without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule or policy restricting such access." ... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=93966 --- From AzCDL: Non-budget legislation is moving in the House but is at a virtual stand-still in the Senate. HB 2439, the AzCDL-requested CCW training reform bill, passed out of the House Committee of the Whole (COW) on March 26, 2009. Your emails helped move it along! The next step is a formal vote in the House Third Read. Assuming it passes Third Read it will be transmitted to the Senate. HB 2474 passed out of the House Judiciary committee on March 5th. On March 30th it was passed out of the House Rules committee. From here it will be put on the House COW calendar. HB 2474 prevents any private or public employer, property owner, etc. from banning any person from keeping a firearm in a locked vehicle in a parking area on the property, with specific, limited exceptions. Lobbyists representing large corporations are pushing for amendments to weaken HB 2474. Please contact your Representatives and politely ask them to support HB 2474 without any amendments. You can find your Representatives here: http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp . HB 2177, a "strike-all" bill that now contains pro-rights language, passed out of the Natural Resources and Rural Affairs (NRRA) committee on February 16th. On March 30th it passed out of the House Rules committee. Next step is the House COW. HB 2177 allows a person with a valid concealed weapons permit to possess, transport or carry a weapon within a game refuge. Progress on HB 2177 is being delayed until a determination is made on the impact of the recent Washington, D.C. Federal District Court injunction against the Department of Interior's ruling allowing concealed weapon permit holders to carry their firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. In the Senate it is estimated that work on the budget will continue for the next few weeks. Meanwhile, non-budget bills are not being assigned to committees. AzCDL-requested bills that were filed in the Senate and are awaiting committee assignments and hearings include SB 1270 (Constitutional Carry) and SB 1243 (Defensive Display). Even with an extended deadline for hearing bills in the Senate, all bills must still be passed out of their respective committees by April 10th in order to be heard in the House. Hopefully that deadline will be extended as well. AzCDL is working to ensure that SB 1270 and SB 1243 do not become casualties of scheduling inconvenience. We are closely monitoring the situation in the Senate, and we're ready to exploit any opportunity that may arise. Stay tuned! When critical legislation moves, we will notify you via these Alerts. These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today! AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html Copyright © 2009 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved. --- From John Farnam: 31 Mar 09 Legislated into criminality, from a friend in SA. This is what is coming, if we allow it: "South Africa's new (just the latest) Firearms Act is forcing all of us with licensed guns to get them re-licensed. Re-licencing entails a 'competency test,' which is little more than a loyalty oath to the ANC political party (our version of Democrats). You get to choose which of your guns you want to keep. The balance are consigned to the smelting pot! You may have one gun for 'defense purposes' (better hope it never breaks), and you may have up to three more in the unlikely event you can swing a 'sport licence.' You also get to pay an exorbitant fee while acquiring a 'competency certificate,' which, as noted, has a lot more to do with political loyalties than with any knowledge of guns. Once you do all that, then the long wait! Average for processing your license is two years! Some time ago, we licensed all our guns. Now, all those duly-licensed guns have to be re-licensed. We are all wondering how long it will be before these new licenses will become invalid, necessitating re-re-licensing! Our politicians and bureaucrats are paranoid and distrusting of us 'ordinary' citizens. Indeed, we peons need to be 'managed' and 'parented,' but never allowed to do anything for ourselves, never allowed to grow up. Who yearn for freedom and liberty are declared criminals! A government advert ends of with this pearl of wisdom: 'Re-licence your firearm, and you'll be part of the fight against crime.' Yes, we all have to be 'good little Nazis,' don't we?" Comment: "Dusty old helmet, rusty old gun. They sit in the corner and wait - Two souvenirs of the Second World War that have withstood the time, and the hate. Mute witness to a time of much trouble, where "kill-or-be-killed" was the law - Were these implements used with high honor? What was the glory they saw? Many times I've wanted to ask them - And now that we're here all alone, Relics of a long-ago war - Where has our freedom gone? Freedom flies in your heart like an eagle. Let it soar with the winds high above Among the spirits of soldiers now sleeping, guard it with care and with love. I salute my old friends in the corner, I agree with all they have said - And, if the Moment of Truth comes tomorrow, I'll be free, or, by God, I'll be dead!" Audie Murphy /John (If you haven't heard it before, registration is the prelude to confiscation.) 31 Mar 09 ND in PA, from one of my Instructors! " I was close to an ND in a local gunshop today! I was examining a SIG P250 that was part of the shop's inventory. When I asked the clerk for permission to dry-fire, he said okay, but wanted to insert a snap-cap into the chamber first. Snap-caps are inert, placebo cartridges, designed to cushion the blow of the firing-pin during dry-fire. Snap-caps are usually plastic and colored brightly to distinguish them from live rounds. Some old guns, and even some recently-manufactured hunting rifles and shotguns can be harmed by excessive dry-firing. Hence, such guns are usually sold with snap-caps. However, nearly all modern defensive firearms are not harmed by dry-firing, particularly pistols, and, for them, snap-caps are unnecessary. Still, there are some who believe dry-firing with any gun should be done with snap-caps in place. This clerk was apparently one. In any event, I handed the P250 back to him, as he reached into a plastic bag full of snap-caps in various calibers. He recovered a bright-blue, plastic cartridge (metal base) in 9X19, inserted it into the pistol's magazine, shoved the magazine into the magazine well, and reciprocated the slide, chambering the round. He then nonchalantly pointed the pistol at the glass counter-top in front of him and pressed the trigger. The pistol discharged! The glass counter-top was shattered, but none of the guns on the shelf below were harmed. The 'bullet' was blue plastic, and we found it, deformed but still identifiable, sitting on the first shelf. The flabbergasted clerk shook like a leaf, as I took the pistol out of his hand. No one was harmed, and the only property damage was the broken glass counter-top. As it turns out, what the clerk (and apparently everyone else) thought was an inert snap-cap, was actually a seldom-seen practice round, manufactured by Germany's Dynamit Nobel. The blue, plastic bullet weighs less than four grains, but launches at 1300 f/s. It is designed for indoor training with a minimal backstop. It is also marketed for pest control. Not powerful enough to cycle most autoloading pistols, it is still eminently capable of inflicting serious injury at close range. Before today, I had never seen one, nor did I even know there was such a thing! There were several others in the bag, so apparently everyone in the shop was fooled! Thank heaven, the clerk had the pistol pointed in a relatively safe direction when he 'dry-fired!' I was graphically reminded today of the importance of 'Rule Two!'" Lessons: (1) Get snap-caps out of your life! As noted above, they serve no useful purpose in most cases and otherwise do little more than provide opportunities for accidents. (2) There are no safe guns! That is the reason for Rule Two. All guns, regardless of their supposed condition, are handled the same way. When you have "safe" guns and "dangerous" guns in your life, and have a different handling routine for each, it is only a matter of time before they get mixed in with each other! (3) Get a Safe-Direction Pad, and have it with you all the time, so you can always manufacture a relatively safe direction in which to point guns when they must be unloaded, loaded, or dry-fired. Keep it with you. Go to safedirection.com. (4) Watch what you put in your gun! In addition to snap-caps, there are all kinds of other things masquerading as ammunition, as we see! Shoot quality fodder. Even then, examine each round carefully as it goes into the cylinder or magazine. Operators don't like surprises! (5) There are no guarantees! No matter how careful we try to be, we must resign ourselves to the fact that guns are dangerous. There are risks inherent to having guns around. And, there are risks inherent to not having guns around! You don't get a perfect world, not in this life! /John (I have long counseled about the risks of dummy rounds of any sort - a click when you expect a bang can be as deadly as a bang when you expect a click. Personally, I only use dummy rounds when I demonstrate loading and unloading procedures in lectures and to create stoppages in range drills. These rounds are generally distinguishable from normal rounds because they are either orange plastic or are assembled with black cases. Normally, they will contrast sharply with the brass or nickel-plated cases of live ammo. I have not yet had students show up with ammo loaded in lacquered steel cases, which may be harder to distinguish from the dummy rounds on the range. The plastic dummy rounds do not usually do well in hot rifle chambers and tend to have a limited life span even when used in pistols. I repeatedly read postings in internet forums advising the use of snap caps for dry fire. If you have a firearm, such as a .22 rimfire, which could be harmed by dry-firing on an empty chamber, an empty case will work just as well and will be much harder to confuse with live ammo. My former teaching partner had such a dim view of snap caps that he used it as a derogatory term for some instructors he regarded as posers.) -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .