A List Member Replies: One thing I've noticed about both of my Kahrs (a CW9 and a PM9) is that it's vital to "seat" the rounds against the magazine. During the break-in period, I had a FTF [failure to feed?] with the CW9 that I traced back to a round that was partially seated against the magazine wall, and was able to replicate the problem by moving a round a fraction of an inch away from the magazine wall before inserting the magazine. Several hundred range rounds later, I've not had a single misfeed, and I'm convinced it was operator error rather than a problem with the guns. I believe a lot of complaints about Kahrs misfeeding could be traced back to this operational detail, although I've seen very little coverage about the issue. (I have never noticed this myself but I have never seen any failures to feed with Kahrs on my range, with either steel-frame or polymer-frame version. At worst, I have had one or two students have rounds rotate vertically while they were in the process of loading magazines. I did have one student experience stovepiping [failure to eject] because she was letting the finger fly off the trigger. This was quickly corrected by reminding her to reset the trigger.) --- Another .30-30 Article: List member Ed Harris (of Ed's Red fame) offers another look at the Winchester 94 in .30-30. Ed's article contains a useful discussion of the factory open sights, which have always been a visual challenge to me. Newer options are available but I have a soft spot for tang sights on these guns. Like double-action revolvers, lever-action rifles may not offer the latest technology but they do the job for which they are intended and they may be easier to use openly if we see another era of infringement of the right to own autoloading firearms. If you can afford it, you should own at least one revolver and one lever gun. http://shilohtv.com/?p=4619 --- Freedom to Carry: Will "Freedom To Carry" replace "Right To Carry"? It's moving that way in Texas and elsewhere. With state legislative sessions starting nationwide, the right to keep and bear arms is front and center in people's minds and some state legislatures. So-called "right to carry," which requires government interference, paperwork, applications, approvals , taxes called "fees," mandatory classes, written tests, shooting tests, plastic-coated permission slips, fingerprinting, photographs, entries into criminal databases and expiration dates for your "rights," well, this has definitely moved the right to bear arms significantly ahead. Is it time to go further and reach "Freedom To Carry"? Also called Vermont- or Alaska-style carry, basically the government stays out of your face as you exercise your fundamental human and civil right to own and carry property. Having a firearm, if you're doing nothing wrong, is not a crime. What a concept. A woman can put a handgun in her handbag and go about her day without fear of arrest... (If you click no other link, to read the rest of the article, today, click this one.) http://pagenine.typepad.com/page_nine/2010/01/freedom-to-carry.html --- Can the Government Keep Us Safe?: ... Can the government keep us safe? I don't think so. Airline travel is safer today because pilots have guns, cockpit doors are like bank vaults, and the passengers have become courageous. All this was done by individuals in the private sector, not by the government. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if the feds had not stripped us of our natural rights to keep ourselves safe - by keeping and bearing arms - 9/11 would never have happened. How about letting the airlines decide who gets on the planes, rather than a TSA worker who leaves his post? When industry competes for your business, you fly where you want to go, you get there in comfort and safety, and you do all this at a competitive cost. When the government runs the show, you stand in the cold night air for six hours because of a kiss. The government can't deliver the mail, it can't operate surveillance cameras at an airport; it can't pay back its debts; it can't tell the truth. That would be the same government that wants to manage your healthcare... (This is nice rhetoric from Judge Napolitano but, as I understand it, it was the airlines that requested the end to the rule that required pilots of all planes carrying US mail to be armed. Back when they were, they were not required to use their own funds to travel to Artesia NM for training, after having passed additional psychological screening. They simply placed a S&W Chief Special revolver in their chart case. Two are reported to have shot skyjackers during that period, with one case documented with press reports.) http://www.lewrockwell.com/napolitano/napolitano13.1.html --- Bloomberg and Parallax: Skilled marksmen know that parallax - caused by having your head in the wrong place when looking through your sights - can cause you to miss your target. As New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has demonstrated yet again, having your head in the wrong place can also result in a miss where gun control is concerned. Bloomberg's group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has produced a 51-page "Blueprint for Federal Action" calling for seven federal departments and agencies - the Departments of State, Justice, and Homeland Security, the FBI and BATFE, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and the White House Office of Management and Budget - to implement 40 changes to federal gun law interpretation and enforcement. The manifesto doesn't state what its recommendations are intended to accomplish. However, knowing that Bloomberg believes "More Guns Means More Crime," we can safely assume that he intends to reduce gun sales... http://www.ammoland.com/2010/01/09/gun-rights-hater-and-gun-banner-bloomberg-fails-to-admit-the-obvious/ --- Why NBA Players Want Guns: Some people ask why a man who stands 6-foot-4, weighs 215 pounds and doesn't have an ounce of fat on him needs to carry a gun. But Gilbert Arenas is not an anonymous physical specimen. He's a player for the NBA's Washington Wizards. And statistics show that the point guard's fame and recognition make him much more likely than the average man on the street to become the victim of a violent crime... For some observers, it is hard to comprehend why professional athletes carry guns. The massive size and strength of NBA players would appear to make them unlikely crime victims. But Gary Kleck, a criminology Professor at Florida State University and co-author of "The Great American Gun Debate," says that's hardly the case... Statistics support Kleck's case. Five NBA players were robbed during the four years from 2005 to 2008 - a rate of 280 per 100,000 people, compared to 145 per 100,000 for the rest of the U.S. population. In other words, the rate that NBA players are robbed was about twice the rate for the rest of the country... The robberies of the NBA players also were comparatively brutal. Possibly because of the players' physical size, those who rob them generally commit their crimes in groups and appear to engage in more planning. Indeed, all the robberies committed against NBA players from 2005 to 2008 involved at least two robbers, and they averaged 2.6 robbers. By contrast, a single robber commits the overwhelming majority of other robberies... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,582715,00.html Related Commentary: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/11/athletes-packing-heat/ And More on Arenas...: ...In doing what he did, where he did, Arenas has potentially created more legal trouble for himself than had he done it elsewhere. "The District of Columbia is about as unique a place as there is in the country in terms of regulating firearms because of its need to balance safety with the Second Amendment right to bear arms," Nickles said. Somewhere in that balance could lie Arenas's near future. The Metropolitan Police Department, federal prosecutors and a grand jury are all weighing possible action against Arenas because he took four handguns from his home in Virginia to the Wizards' locker room, stored them there, then deployed them in an ill-advised confrontation with a teammate that Arenas has now described as a "misguided effort to play a joke." ... By passing the Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975, the District of Columbia's City Council effectively barred residents from owning guns except certain shotguns and sporting-type rifles and mandated that even those be unloaded, disassembled or bound by a trigger lock in one's home... More significant, even with the court ruling, one cannot carry a handgun outside the home, which is what Arenas did in taking handguns from his house to the Verizon Center. In part of a statement issued last week, he said he thought that the changes brought about by the Supreme Court ruling made it legal for him to bring his guns into the District of Columbia. He was wrong... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/sports/basketball/11arenas.html --- On the Other Hand...: Former basketball star Jayson Williams pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated assault and will serve at least 18 months in prison for accidentally killing a limousine driver in his bedroom, finally closing one chapter in his troubled post-NBA life. Williams was awaiting retrial on a reckless manslaughter count but pleaded guilty to the lesser count for the 2002 death of Costas Christofi. Williams remained poised during the hearing and mostly answered yes-and-no questions, though he did tell the judge that he had not fully checked the gun's safety before snapping it closed. "I didn't look in the direction the muzzle of the gun was pointed," he said, before admitting that his handling of the gun was reckless... Williams was acquitted in 2004 of aggravated manslaughter and convicted of trying to cover up the crime. The jury deadlocked on a reckless manslaughter count, and a retrial on that charge was due to start this week. Witnesses testified during the trial that Williams was showing off a shotgun when he snapped the weapon shut and it fired, hitting Christofi. They also testified that Williams initially put the gun in the dead man's hands and told witnesses to lie about what happened... http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/11/ex-nba-player-pleads-guilty-fatal-shooting/ --- Tax Protestor Sentenced on Weapons Charges: A tax-evading New Hampshire man convicted of amassing an arsenal of weapons has been sentenced to 37 years in federal prison. Attorneys for Ed Brown had argued he suffers from a delusional disorder and asked for the minimum mandatory of 30 years. Prosecutors sought a sentence of almost 50 years in prison. U.S. District Judge George Singal found Brown competent and sentenced him Monday to 37 years, saying he found Brown "unrepentant." Brown and his wife, Elaine, were in a nine-month standoff with authorities in 2007 after they were sentenced to five years in prison for tax evasion. Elaine Brown was sentenced in October to 35 years in prison. (I presume that there must have been some NFA violations.) http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nation/nh-tax-evader-found-competent-sentenced-to-37-years-for-weapons-violations-81147467.html --- Virginia Man Sentenced for Full-Auto Conversions: John M. Walker, 50, of Alexandria, Va., was sentenced today to 36 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for illegally converting a semi-automatic rifle into a machine gun. The defendant also agreed to forfeit 19 of his firearms that were possessed in violation of the National Firearms Act... According to court documents, Walker admitted to illegally converting two semi-automatic Uzi firearms to fully-automatic Uzi machine guns and removing the serial numbers on the machine guns that he sold. He further agreed that he sold these two illegal fully-automatic Uzi machine guns to an undercover agent from the ATF for approximately $2,000 each. Also in court documents, Walker admitted to possessing 19 firearms that had been converted to machine guns. Walker had not registered the 19 firearms in the National Firearms Act Registration and Transfer Record, and he had not paid the required Special Occupational Tax to manufacture, transfer or possess firearms designated in the National Firearms Act, specifically to include those sold to the undercover ATF agent. Thus, he agreed to forfeit the 19 illegal machine guns to ATF. The forfeiture will ensure that these guns are kept out of the hands of potential criminals... (Walker, I presume, was "repentant.") http://www.ammoland.com/2010/01/09/man-sentenced-to-three-years-for-making-illegal-uzi-machine-guns/ --- Wisconsin Man Sues for Open-Carry Arrest: A Racine man arrested while openly carrying a holstered gun on his porch is suing the city and two police officers. The Journal Times in Racine says Frank Hannan-Rock and a gun-rights group filed the federal lawsuit Friday. The suit challenges Wisconsin's Gun Free School Zone Act, which restricts gun possession within 1,000 feet of a school. The plaintiffs say the act covers so much territory that it's too restrictive for gun owners. Hannan-Rock was arrested in September when he refused to answer questions from officers investigating a report of shots fired in the area. He wasn't charged. He says police told him they have probable cause to arrest him in his home when he has a gun and refuses to identify himself because he lives within 1,000 feet of a school. (The federal Gun Free School Zones Act provides a specific exemption for possession within 1,000 feet of a school if the actor is on private property that is not part of the school grounds.) http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-gunlawsuit-wis,0,3357443.story --- NYPD Disarms Retired Hero: An NYPD detective who risked his life to infiltrate the Mafia has been stripped of the right to carry a firearm because of a line-of-duty injury, the Daily News has learned. Rick Cowan, a retired first-grade detective, posed as a recycling company exec named Danny Benedetto in the early 1990s to expose mob influence in the carting industry. His work secretly recording mobsters and corrupt businessmen earned him one of the NYPD's top medals - honorable mention. But now, with the NYPD refusing to let him carry a weapon for protection, he feels betrayed by the job he loved... Department officials are concerned that if Cowan lost consciousness, he would be unable to safeguard his firearm and consigned him to its "no carry" list. Cowan's lawyer said the NYPD medical division appears more concerned with liability issues than the safety of the detective and his family... http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/01/10/2010-01-10_detective_hero_told_to_give_up_gun.html --- Life in Las Vegas: Charlie Mitchener is a 61-year-old general building contractor with an office near Patrick Lane and Fort Apache Road in Las Vegas. He holds permits allowing him to legally carry concealed weapons in Nevada, Florida and Utah. Over the past three years, his office has been broken into five times. "Three of those occasions involved me interacting with Metro," he wrote to me recently. "Each of the occasions began the same: my introduction, my presentation of my Nevada drivers license and my concealed firearms permit. Prior to today, each Metro officer simply replied thank you, proceeded with his work and then when complete there was a conversation about firearms." Things were real different at 5:30 a.m, Jan. 3, however, when Mr. Mitchener called Metro to report the fifth break-in at his office... "Upon presentation of my (firearms permit), the officer asked if I had the weapon on me to which I replied yes. She then said to spread my legs and put my hands behind my back. I complied and she then handcuffed me. While doing so, she said that she wanted to make certain 'that we were all safe.' " Officer Rogers stripped Mr. Mitchener of the Glock 19 he was carrying, took the weapon and locked it in her patrol car... http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/handcuffed-disarmed-for-obeying-the-law-81088092.html --- Life in New Jersey: A man was wounded in a police-involved shooting in Jersey City on Sunday night, a spokesman for the city said... At the hospital, a woman who said she was the victim's sister identified him as Kwadir Felton, 18, from Jersey City, and said he had been shot in the face. A senior at a vocational school, he was scheduled to graduate in June, she said. She said doctors told her that he was blinded but was likely to survive. She said it was a case of mistaken identity. Groups of officers huddled outside the hospital as friends of the victim tried to visit. A security guard, who appeared to be familiar with the young men who came by, could be heard warning them that they could not bring their guns inside - prompting some to turn away... (As far as I know, New Jersey will not issue a carry permit that is not related to an applicant's employment. Outside DC, Chicago, and New York City, New Jersey probably has the most cumbersome process to purchase a handgun legally. Neither infringement appears to have much effect on those who are not concerned with obeying the law.) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/nyregion/11shoot.html?ref=nyregion --- New Jersey Amends One-Gun-a-Month Law: ... While NRA attempted to create a more robust exemption for gun owners, these requests fell upon deaf ears and the bill passed as written without creating changes beneficial to New Jersey's law-abiding firearm owners as promised by the Firearms Task Force. Proponents contend this measure would address the problems with New Jersey's "one-gun-a-month" law; however, it falls far short. While it would, in limited circumstances, allow a law-abiding person to purchase multiple handguns, an individual would only be able to do so after filing a formal application with the State Police. In addition, the individual would need to justify their "need" to purchase these firearms together and why it would not be "feasible or practical" to purchase the firearms separately... (I assume that the cleanup only corrected those aspects that limited dealers to purchasing one handgun a month.) http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-new-jersey-assembly-passes-one-gun-a-month-bill-r-1263166652 --- Missouri Residents Cautioned on Use of Force: As the old adage about protecting one's property says, "A man's home is his castle." What's not said is exactly how far he (or she) can go to safeguard a home - or even more vaguely, a car or family. It's a complex question, as evidenced by two high-profile area cases in recent weeks. The first, on Dec. 27, involved a St. Louis man who allegedly shot and killed an 18-year-old who was attempting to steal the man's truck. The next day, two St. Louis police officers shot and killed a man who they said fired at them, but who may have believed he was shooting at an intruder... What is clear - and what prosecutors and cops agree on - is that people generally have the right to defend themselves and their loved ones with deadly force under two broad categories: self-defense and to protect one's dwelling... http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2010/01/10/madison/news/0110gcj-shoot0000000.txt --- Oops, Wrong House: A suspected burglar is dead after being shot by a homeowner in northeast Houston. Police say the homeowner saw the man breaking into his house on Baer and Meadow this morning. He grabbed a gun and opened fire. The suspected burglar got outside, jumped a fence and collapsed. He died later at a hospital. It's unclear right now if the homeowner will face any charges. (While the shooting will likely go to a grand jury, I find it more unclear why the reporter thinks the Texas homeowner might face charges.) http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7209846 --- Huge Bear Continues Lake Tahoe Raids: A gigantic, bullet-scarred black bear with a hankering for human food and a knack for breaking and entering has been terrorizing homeowners on the north shore of Lake Tahoe and deftly outmaneuvering gun-toting rangers, bear dogs and traps. The burly bruin - a male that weighs an estimated 700 pounds, roughly twice the poundage of the average adult black bear - has broken into and ransacked dozens of homes in Incline Village since last summer, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage and more than a few sleepless nights. Wildlife officials have tried everything, but the food junkie apparently knows a bear trap when he sees one, shakes off bullets like they were mosquito bites, and keeps coming back for more... A Diamond Peak, Nev., resident said he shot the bear in the back with a .30-30 rifle when the animal charged him just after Thanksgiving. "I've seen bears before, but this was the biggest bear I've ever seen," said the man, who did not want to be identified out of fear that animal lovers would harass him. "I can tell you this thing was nasty looking, with scars on its face and a gash on its neck." Lackey said the bear is unusually smart. He has eluded the Karelian Bear Dogs that were put on his trail and waltzes right by bear traps. He even knows the garbage pickup dates in certain neighborhoods and routinely shows up to feast when cans are full, Lackey said... (The article fails to emphasize the role of garbage cans, which initially draw bears to homes in neighborhoods that border their normal territory.) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/09/BAL71BDC28.DTL&tsp=1 --- The New York Times Examines the M16 and M4: ... Some of the arguments (the problems with M-16s jamming during their Vietnam-era rollout) were historical and of marginal relevance to the current generation of rifles. The causes of jamming in the jungle and deltas of Vietnam were isolated more than 40 years ago, and the rifles and ammunition in use today are significantly changed. Complaints from Afghanistan and Iraq are also on a far smaller scale than those of yesteryear, when the early generation of the M-16 became a national scandal. But other arguments remain germane, including the question of whether the rifles are susceptible to stoppages caused by the intrusion of sand and dust, and whether the standard military ammunition they are firing is well suited for killing lightly clad men. The current round, the M855, was designed for penetrating Eastern Bloc body armor. Some soldiers believe it passes too easily through victims wearing everyday clothes... (I find it hard to believe that American soldiers refer to those who are trying to kill them as "victims.") http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/the-making-of-the-militarys-standard-arms/ --- Philippines Restricts Firearms Prior to Elections: A nationwide gun ban took effect Sunday in the Philippines to stave off any increase in political violence as elections draw closer, officials said. Elections in the Philippines are almost always bloody, mainly because of the dominance of political dynasties, the presence of nearly 70 private armies and militias and the proliferation of what are called "loose firearms" - mostly unlicensed and unregistered weapons. Though the elections are scheduled for May, there have already been reports of killings and attacks on candidates this year. Manuel Villar, a presidential candidate of the Nacionalista Party, said four of the party's candidates for local office were killed in different areas in the first week of January... The new gun ban calls for officials to establish more than 3,500 checkpoints - at least 90 of them in the capital, Manila - to be staffed by 100,000 soldiers and police officers... Under the terms of the ban, civilians are not allowed to carry firearms outside of their homes, even if they are licensed. Only uniformed police officers or soldiers on duty are authorized to carry guns, and the law is so stringent that off-duty police officers who are in possession of firearms will be subject to arrest, Mr. Espina said. Three police officers, a navy enlisted man and a prison warden were among those detained Sunday, The Associated Press reported... (As I understand Philippine politics, gambling and prostitution, both significant sources of income, are generally controlled by mayors and local military commanders, acting in concert.) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/world/asia/11philippines.html?ref=world --- There's a Reason God Put Those People on an Island: Celebrity mum Myleene Klass is "aghast" after being warned by police for waving a knife at teenagers who entered her garden. The TV star and Marks & Spencer model was in her kitchen, with her daughter upstairs, when she spotted people peering into her window just after midnight on Friday. She grabbed a knife and banged the windows before they ran away. Hertfordshire Police officers warned Klass she should not have used a knife to scare off the teens because carrying an "offensive weapon" - even in her own home - was illegal. Klass told Sky News in a statement: "My family are totally fine and I thank the police for being so re-assuring and comforting. However, I was left shocked and surprised to be told that a private individual in the privacy of their own home runs the risk of committing a criminal offence if, out of fear for their own safety and their loved ones, they grab something with which they could defend themselves if an intruder enters their home. I totally respect British law - but surely everyone has the right to self-defence in their own home if they are in danger?" ... (Pointing a firearm at someone, without justification, is typically considered an aggravated assault because the firearm can launch one or more projectiles over a long distance. A knife, however, is typically regarded as a contact weapon. Even though an average assailant can close a distance of seven yards with a knife in about 1.5 seconds, she cannot do so through a wall or window.) http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Showbiz-News/Myleene-Klass-Knife-Warning-Marks-And-Spencer-Model-Warned-Over-Waving-Kitchen-Knife-At-Teenagers/Article/201001215518164?lpos=Showbiz_News_Carousel_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15518164_Myleene_Klass_Knife_Wa A man who was stabbed to death in a London suburb while confronting two muggers who were running away after snatching a woman's handbag has been described as a hero by police. Sukhwinder Singh, 31, who has one child, chased the thieves after witnessing the attack on a 28-year-old woman near Barking station in east London. After pursuing the two men along several residential streets, Singh caught up with the pair and a fight broke out, during which he was fatally wounded... The attack comes weeks after Home Office figures indicated that 375,000 people were mugged in England and Wales last year - the equivalent of one every 90 seconds... East London remains a "hotspot" for knife crime, with weapon carrying a problem, particularly among gang members. Days before Christmas an 18-year-old was found lying in a Bow street after being attacked with a knife. Salum Kombo died after suffering multiple stab wounds in an attack just yards from his home... (It's a good thing that British police have the time to warn a housewife that it is illegal to show potential burglars that she too has a knife. Disarmament has certainly done wonders for Britain.) http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jan/09/knife-crime-stabbing-london --- Tangentially Related: ... And then there is the biggest imponderable of all - the possible retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens by term's end in late June. He has acknowledged hiring only one clerk for next term, and he still seems the most likely to go, though sporadic speculation has justices ranging from Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Antonin Scalia eyeing the exit door. The political woes of the Democratic Party and its possible loss of a 60-vote supermajority in the U.S. Senate next year may be a factor. Former Stevens clerk Joseph Thai, a University of Oklahoma College of Law professor, said it's unlikely that the vagaries of politics would determine when Stevens retires. "But I do think they make him feel more comfortable about retiring sooner rather than later," Thai said. "He must feel daily what a difference the timing of [Sandra Day] O'Connor's retirement made on the direction of the Court after her departure." ... http://alm-editorial-us.msgfocus.com/c/13DDJJoyqj6KpuG6rR A powerful federal court, ruling on broad issues, has brushed aside international law and the laws of war, saying only domestic law restricts the president's power to hold an enemy combatant. Even viewed in isolation, the decision has considerable weight. But the ruling, which applies nationwide for the moment, comes as Washington whips itself into a security frenzy following the failed bombing Christmas day of an international U.S. flight from the Netherlands to Detroit, prompting warnings from civil rights and Muslim advocates... U.S. Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote the majority opinion, and a separate concurrent opinion agreeing with the majority document. In that second opinion, in a highly unusual departure from judicial custom, Brown sets out a chilling vision of the stakes and new tactics in the war against terror... The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is sometimes called the second highest court in the land. It reviews all cases arising from Guantanamo claims, and its decisions in that venue must be followed by the other U.S. circuit courts of appeal... (Janice Rogers Brown, a Reagan appointee whose nomination was stalled for two years by Democratic opposition in the Senate, is one of the major conservative voices in the federal appellate judiciary.) http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/01/10/US-Supreme-Court-In-terror-war-to-hell-with-international-law/UPI-45561263112200/ -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. The tactics and skills to use a firearm in self-defense don't come naturally with the right to keep and bear arms. http://www.spw-duf.info .