They're Back: A list member searched a little harder than I did and found the Federal Nyclad 125 gr. .38 Special standard-pressure hollowpoint available at Ammunition To Go for $34.95 per 50-round box. Most vendors, who list it as out of stock and may or may not offer back orders, only list the 20-round box, at about $20. This load, nicknamed the Chief Special load, was designed for expansion from two-inch barrels and is particularly suited for use in lightweight revolvers or by those who are particularly sensitive to recoil. http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/catalog1/product_info.php/cPath/23_66_113/products_id/3019 --- Elections and the RKBA: Conditions have lined up for 2010 to be the year of the perfect electoral storm. But in order to create the kind of storm the Republic needs, one that cleans out an insubordinate and defiant Congress, GunVoters and pro-rights activists need to get organized. The time to start is now. Just as my friend, noted author and radio host Dave Ramsey says about saving money, it's never too early to get involved in politics, but it's better to get involved late than not to get involved at all. Whether you're reading this in May, or next October, you need to take action. There are many ways to participate in the political process and all of them are important. The first, and most fundamental, is to vote. Make sure that you are registered to vote and that you show up on Election Day. Dismiss the excuses. I've heard them all and they are all lame... http://www.ammoland.com/2010/04/10/gun-voters-practicing-politics/ --- With Friends Like These...: [AZ] State lawmakers have passed a new gun bill that could soon allow you to carry a hidden gun without a concealed weapons permit. But not all gun rights advocates support this gun rights law. Jim Stover says, "would I say to a police officer here's your badge here's your gun go out and defend my life without any training, absolutely not." ... But state lawmaker Frank Antenori says the law makes it safer for all citizens because it allows more people to carry guns and to protect themselves against armed criminals. Antenori says, "I would rather see someone shot dead trying to rob a convenience store by a clerk who's been sick and tired of being robbed and robbed and robbed and see that criminal dead and not be a burden on the state and criminal system then see some poor guy shot and killed by a criminal watching her family cry as he's being buried." But expanded gun rights doesn't always mean expanded responsibility. On Thursday, police charged a man from Surprise Arizona with endangerment after his gun went off inside a Walmart. Witnesses say the man was fidgeting with his gun when it fired a bullet into the ceiling. Despite this dangerous gun discharge, Antenori says, "You can't legislate against stupidity. But you shouldn't legislate against the people and their inherent right to protect themselves." Stover believes differently. He says training would have taught the gun owner how to properly pick up the gun from the floor without putting his finger on the trigger. Stover adds, "our lawmakers they think its the most amazing thing in the world, I think its the most stupid thing that they can come up with." ... (Stover is apparently "chief instructor" at Marksman Pistol Institute in Tucson, and has a history of advocating limitation of the RKBA in order to boost his business. The knucklehead who negligently discharged his pistol in the Walmart store is reportedly a former Maricopa County detention officer and probably has had formal handgun training, if only to obtain a CWP.) http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12287211 --- If You're Applying for a Carry Permit: The Federal Bureau of Investigation has notified state law enforcement agencies that all fingerprint-based background checks necessary for Right-to-Carry permit applications will be temporarily suspended from April 28, 2010, to May 3, 2010. The temporary suspension is said to be necessary in order for the FBI to process almost 500,000 fingerprints for Census Bureau workers. The FBI will resume processing CHL applicant fingerprints beginning May 4, 2010. Delays from the suspension of up to two weeks are anticipated; with the FBI giving assurances that all fingerprints will be processed as quickly as possible. http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=5711 --- CCW Remains an Issue in California Sheriff Race: After Orange County's sheriff was indicted on corruption charges on 2007, supervisors made a point of looking beyond the county limits to find a replacement who was free of the cronyism and scandal that had tainted the office. A retired Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department division chief, Sandra Hutchens was lauded by one Orange County supervisor for being "removed from the political machinations in the county" and was seen as a welcome breath of fresh air in a department that had been led for decades by politically connected lawmen. But now, facing her first election bid, Hutchens is fighting criticism that she's too much of an outsider, a career cop from Los Angeles who just doesn't understand Orange County. As sheriff, Hutchens shook up her command staff, threatened to rescind concealed weapons permits handed out by former Sheriff Michael S. Carona and struck an independent tone that rubbed some county supervisors the wrong way, at times leaving them out of the loop or having to ask questions after decisions had been made... (I am puzzled by the charge that Carona handed out CWP's as political favors - to my knowledge, he simply made Orange County as close as possible to shall-issue under California law. What he apparently did do as political favors was to had out reserve badges.) http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hutchens11-2010apr11,0,7247059,full.story --- NRA-ILA Alerts: List members are encouraged to check the alerts for the week, posted on the NRA-ILA website. http://www.nraila.org/GrassrootsAlerts/read.aspx --- Tangentially Related: Two senators on the committee that will examine President Barack Obama's next Supreme Court nominee are playing down the chance of a filibuster. Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the second-ranking Senate Republican, says the White House can avoid a filibuster fight by nominating a "mainstream" candidate to succeed retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Kyl says a filibuster is unlikely except under "extraordinary circumstances." A fellow Senate Justice Committee member, Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, says he thinks it's fairly certain that Obama will settle on someone in the mainstream. The senators appeared on ABC's "This Week." (Sounds to me as though the fix is in.) http://townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2010/04/11/senators_say_high_court_filibuster_can_be_avoided There are two ways the Senate can approach a president's judicial nominees - and specifically President Barack Obama's nomination of University of California, Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in San Francisco... Liu himself opposed the confirmation of now-Chief Justice John Roberts on the grounds that Roberts might prove to be a conservative extremist. Well, the 9th Circuit already is extreme, on the liberal side. I want to know whether Liu wants to right a listing ship or steer it into the drink. http://townhall.com/columnists/DebraJSaunders/2010/04/11/would_goodwin_liu_sink_the_left-leaning_9th_circuit?page=full --- From John Farnam: 4 Apr 10 Addendum to "Soldiers and Guns" It gets worse: "At larger FOBs, personnel 'enforcing' unloading procedures at clearing barrels are third-world contractors, who, in most cases, speak no English. As we unload our guns in front of them, they are all carrying pistols, with magazines inserted, and they are there, we are assured, '... for our own safety.' They are, in effect, 'Base Police,' but I've never heard of one risking his life in order to protect any of us forcibly-disarmed, uniformed US personnel, in an active Combat Zone! As you might suspect, at shift-change these blithering idiots make use of the self-same 'clearing barrels,' and, due to their conspicuous, indeed comical, display of weapon mis-handling, the area around clearing barrels now easily qualifies as the most dangerous place in-Country." Comment: Unfortunately, it seems that Western Civilization, even our military culture, is reverting from a proud heritage of logic, reason, and daring, to a frightened, emasculate, unenlightened state of seedy, epicene mysticism. How is it that, while casually admitting that what we're doing is stupid and makes no sense, we seem unable to advance? Have we entered a new Dark Age? (I am reminded of the requirement for officers to disarm when entering jails, such as to book prisoners. On LASD it was common enough for deputies to get distracted by conversation while going back out onto patrol that most deputies eschewed the gun lockers at the entrance to the jail and secured their handguns in the trunk of their patrol cars. That way, when they got half a mile from the station and realized that their holsters were empty, they could just pull over and go to the trunk to retrieve the missing handgun. In the case of jails and prisons, there is good reason not to carry a firearm into an environment where an officer would face a high risk of disarmament, with very serious consequences. I do not see a parallel with requiring military personnel to unload when returning to base.) /John 6 Apr 10 Stupidity and endemic distrust is not confined to the military. This from an LEO friend in the Chicago area: "Recently, Chicago experienced a wide-spread, protracted shooting incident. During a 48-hour period. 54 people were shot in an around a single neighborhood. One of the TV-news clips showed multiple CPD officers responding to dozens of simultaneous 'shots-fired' calls. In one clip, several officers could be seen carrying AR-15 rifles. As these officers courageously approached the scene, you could here much gunfire, recorded by news cameras. Our mayor was furious... with the police! He could not believe any of his officers would actually deploy a rifle in his little town. He indicated that he would rescind the general order, authorizing officers to carry these weapons. Note that these rifles are not provided by the City. These intrepid and dedicated officers purchased the weapons, ammunition, and all accessories (to include required safety-measures for carrying them in beat-cars) with their own money." Comment: "Prepared" is present tense. "Victim" is past tense. "Justice," in theory, can be either, but most agree that no justice exists in past tense! We promote the incompetent; baptize the unrepentant; elect the unemployable! /John (If the rifles were authorized, it sounds like a dispute between the mayor and his chief of police. Back when the AR-15 was new, I recall a negligent, fatal shooting of an innocent person by a police officer in Vernon CA, who had brought his own, unauthorized AR-15 on a warrant service. It didn't help that the officers involved had drunk a few beers with their pre-raid dinner.) 8 Apr 10 Test Your Gear: I've been carrying a SIG/250 in 9mm for a number of months, and, like all SIGs, it runs fine. I then switched to another 250, this one is 40S&W. I ran my 9mm with the smallest of SIG's three frame sizes. The 40S&W version came with the middle-sized frame, but I swapped it out for the small one that had been on my 9mm. The new pistol ran, except the slide kept unexpectedly locking to the rear halfway through the magazine. I asked my pistolsmith to try it, and it ran fine for him with no glitches, and the slide-lock lever's downward spring-pressure was normal, so I concluded that the problem was with my grip. I prefer a thumbs-up, or "flying-thumbs" grip. My hands are average for a person my size, but my left thumb sometimes apparently put just enough upward pressure on the slide-lock lever to cause the problem. It didn't cause the identical problem with the 9mm and the small grip, as there is just enough difference between the 9mm and 40S&W slides to cause it in one case, but not in the other. There is also enough divergence between grip sizes to make all the difference in the way the pistol runs in my hands. I never would have predicted it! So, I put the mid-sized frame back on the 40S&W, and the premature slide-lock problem immediately disappeared! For those who are wondering if there is a point lurking in all this, it is: Test your gear! Your guns and gear need to be tested by you, in the exact way you use them. Pistols that run just fine "for everyone else," may not for you, and the way to be certain, one way or another, is via thorough, realistic, faithful testing. There are a million variables, and gunmakers can only make product to fit "average" circumstances. Accordingly, no gun will ever be exactly perfect for you personally, but it still needs to run reliably when you're using it! Test! Don't guess. /John (Many of us teach what I would describe as a "thumbs forward" grip of the bottom-feeding pistol. John teaches what is literally a "thumbs up" grip. I know one of his instructors who ground off the slide-release lever on his Glock pistol to avoid the type of interference described - the inner portion, which is raised by the magazine follower, to lock the slide back after the last round is fired, remains in place. Back when I was still enamored of bottom-feeders, I acquired a SIG P220, for cold-weather use. I intentionally sought a used European version, with the magazine release on the rear of the bottom of the grip frame, to eliminate any unintentional pressure on the magazine-release button of the newer American-style model, while wearing thick gloves. Sometimes the added recoil of a larger caliber can create ergonomic interactions not present with smaller calibers. Gloves, in particular, can pose serious challenges in the operation of firearms. While many have sought designs that minimize interference, such gloves often fail to provide enough insulation against cold. Many of us have come to believe that the wisest course is to choose the glove you need for warmth, so long as you can chomp down on a few fingertips with your teeth and rip off the one on your gun hand before you start your draw stroke. Differences in the length and shape of thumbs can make crucial differences in handgun operation. One list member showed up for training with a Glock, on which he had been advised to install a slide lock [the part that is pulled downward to remove the slide for cleaning] that is wider than the one furnished by the factory. When he experienced discomfort shooting with the thumbs-forward grip, we discovered that it was because the serrations on the aftermarket slide lock were abrading the thumb of his support hand. While some may benefit from extended controls, others may find that they create unwanted interference. I asked the student in question to ask the guy who had installed the extended slide lock when he had ever seen someone need to perform a high-speed disassembly of a pistol.) -- 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 .