Huzzah!

This is good news!

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Lyle Laverty today announced that the Department of the Interior has finalized updated regulations governing the possession of firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. The final rule, which updates existing regulations, would allow an individual to carry a concealed weapon in national parks and wildlife refuges if, and only if, the individual is authorized to carry a concealed weapon under state law in the state in which the national park or refuge is located. The update has been submitted to the Federal Register for publication and is available to the public on www.doi.gov.

AND

“The Department believes that in managing parks and refuges we should, as appropriate, make every effort to give the greatest respect to the democratic judgments of State legislatures with respect to concealed firearms,” said Laverty. “Federal agencies have a responsibility to recognize the expertise of the States in this area, and federal regulations should be developed and implemented in a manner that respects state prerogatives and authority.”

Someone at the Dep. of Interior is using common sense?  This confuses me, but I'm willing to roll with it.  Perhaps the common sense fairy could come to The Hill and bestow some sense before those idiots give away even more money we don't have to corporations and banks that don't deserve it.

Free Plaxico

This article in the WSJ from Dave Kopel certainly hits the nail for me.  I think Plaxico is an idiot for having a Glock shoved in the waistband of his sweatpants, but I don't think he should do significant jailtime for it.

Shooting yourself is stupid, really stupid.  So is sticking a glock in your pants without a holster.  Discharging a firearm in a public place is illegal and should be unless you are defending yourself or others.  Simply having a gun in your possession however, should not be illegal, nor should it carry a silly minimum sentence.

UPDATE: John R. Lott, Jr has a piece up at fox.com about disarming citizens, as they were in India, even if they are physically superior like NFL athletes.

When police can’t promise to protect law-abiding citizens such Plaxico Burress or the victims in India, why don’t we allow people the right to protect themselves? Unfortunately, bans do more to encourage crime than prevent it.

You don't say

Dave Hardy links to a pretty interesting piece on police tactics towards "active killers" and the changes or evolution thereof.  The study done by the Tactical Defense Institute of Adams County, Ohio concludes that the proper response by police should be a singe officer response, that is, the first officer on the seen aggressively goes after the killer.  The reasoning for this is that the time it took to assemble a SWAT team and later an ad-hoc tactical team from the first four or five uniforms on scene cost lives.

Here's the money quote from the study though.

The other statistic that emerged from a study of active killers is that they almost exclusively seek out "gun free" zones for their attacks.

Really?  You mean to tell me that a person who wants to kill a lot of people as quickly as possible will go to a convenient local where many people gather and cannot have firearms?  But they're gun free zones!  GUN FREE!  Many have started to refer to schools and malls as victim zones, you can't really argue with that, if a nutjob wants to get his 15 seconds of fame by blasting 40 some odd people into the afterlife before he lethally injects himself with lead, what the hell good is a law or even a sign for that matter?

Now as for the single officer tactic, I'm not so sure about that.  I would think it would be a matter of time before some idiot wants to kill a lot of cops and decides to head for the local mall to kill a few civies and wait for the cops to come one by one.  Maybe the first two officers would be a comprimise, or (GASP!) you could abolish "gun-free" zones and let responsible permit carries have a fighting chance and maybe save a lot of lives in the process?  Nah!  That'd never work because only government can save us.

Sherrif Defends CCW Holder Identities

An Oregon Sheriff is fighting a newspaper request for the names of CCW holders in Washington County on the grounds that Oregon law that states records are not public if they could reveal a person's security measures or weaknesses. Sheriff Rob Gordon believes that it is implied that the permits were obtained for security purposes (NO! REALLY?!) but the court is saying that permit holders have to state that they obtained it for security purposes before they can be considered non-public.

So Sheriff Gordon is contacting by mail all 10,000 or so permit holders to elicit whether they indeed obtained them for security reasons.

"Instead of going through the process of saying that it's implied, we're going though the process of getting the documentation that says that it is," said Sgt. Vance Stimler, public information officer at the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

I wish all Sheriffs would be this progressive in thought towards the CCW community, sadly, I think he's in the minority.

Well done Gordon!

I'm Not Surprised

Syd at Front Sight Press asks if anyone is surprised that The Chicago Tribune has come out in support of Mob Boss Mayor Daley's stance on Heller being wrong, however, they don't think the city (not my the city, thankfully) should fight the ruling insisting that you can't fight a SCOTA rulling. Gee, you think? The paper would rather Chicago take the same tact that DC is taking in making it very cumbersome to register and firearm and impose ridiculous restrictions upon them in the home.

It's nice to know that d-bags like Daley and his cohorts in Chi-town will gladly c-block your constitutional rights when they see fit. Hey! They know what's best for us right? We the unwashed masses shouldn't be thinking of such lofty plans as being able to defend ourselves against criminals that the nanny state classifies as "victims" and sends them on their merry way as long as they stay away from their gated communities.

Remember, this is the same political womb of arrogance, corruption and greed that the Obamassiah was birthed from.

Got A Receipt For That?

There's no corruption like Louisiana corruption, apparently. This story from Louisiana Sportsman Magazine charges that some NOPD cops are still taking guns from lawful citizens, this time though, during traffic stops. They apparently ask the citizen if they have proof of ownership and when the citizen indicates they don't, the cop takes the gun and doesn't issue a receipt for it. There's a word for that, unless I'm mistaken, they call it stealing. I really try to keep the side of the officer in mind on many such stories as the press is usually biased against the Police more often than not and I have good friends that are cops, but damn! This just pisses me off when someone uses their position of authority to steal from people.

I wonder what happens if after having a gun stolen someone were to call 911 and report an armed robbery by someone impersonating a NOPD officer? Do we ever hear from that person again?

Hat Tip to Dave Hardy

Heller Win

Well the gun grabbers must be writhing in their own filth about now as the SCOTUS has rendered the verdict on Heller v DC. I won't bother to try and cover what so many others have already done, I will link to Dave Hardy's Of Arms & the Law for you to peruse. He does an nice job of commenting first hand on legal gun stuff.

This doesn't go as far as I'd like, but its a win and that's a good thing.

"Like A Whorehouse At Low Tide"

Karl at Protein Wisdom has more on Chicago Alderman Dick Mell who proposed a law for an amnesty period for folks who forgot to re-register their guns during the same period that he forgot to re-register. Just a coincidence I'm sure. Turns out Illinois Gov Blagojevich is his son-in-law and they had a tiff a while back that brought the attention of the US AG and the rest, as Karl points out, is Rezko

If you're within five hours of Chicago, this doesn't surprise you in the least. Just remember, the Obamassiah cut his political teeth with these pirahna.

I'll Have That With Extra Lead

This is one of the best lines I've read in a while. Instapundit links to this story about Pizza Hut (ugh) coming under fire for suspending a delivery driver in Iowa for defending himself with a handgun against a robbery attempt. Insty's comment on Pizza Hut's HR VP is classic.

Uh huh. Good thing he didn't listen or he might be being carried by six instead of subjected to mealy-mouthed HR flackery from one.

Indeed!

Guns Save Lives

I'm continually amazed that John Stossel is still on ABC's 20/20 even though he regularly promotes gun ownership and conceal carry. His latest piece on Real Clear Politics (via Instapundit) is a prime example of the argument against Gun Free zones and gun control laws in general, he summerizes

"If someone gets into your house, which would you rather have, a handgun or a telephone? You can call the police if you want, and they'll get there, and they'll take a picture of your dead body. But they can't get there in time to save your life. The first line of defense is you."

Sadly, I think too many people are too willing to give up responsibility for their own well being, I suppose its easier to let the .gov take care of you than face the chore of doing it yourself.

Firing Line Prayer

I really do sympathize with Mr. Owens in his Pajamas Media article on obtaining a carry permit in NC. For starters, I too have prayed at the firing line, frankly, sometimes shooters scare the hell out of me! The problem is, you can't tell who by looking at them, sure some look the part, but there are times when I'll take the octogenarian over the 20 something bubba.

I like the idea of a holstered lawyer too (Parades? Really?). However, I am privileged to live in a state without a lot of stupid restrictions on carry, in Indiana, its basically schools and casinos that I can't carry in, I don't really get the casino part, but then I don't go to them too often. Too bad not every state is as unrestrictive to our rights.

SCOTUS & Parker

For those living under a rock and may not know, the Supreme Court has decided to hear the Parker vs DC case where a lower court ruled that DC's ban was unconstitutional. This is the first time in 68 years that the court will rule on the 2nd amendment, so yeah, its a big deal. David Hardy over at Of Arms & the Law has some thoughts on the question that the court will rule on. He feels pretty positive about wording of the question if you can read anything into it at all and I think you can since they took their sweet time of it.

David also has some thoughts on the timing of when the case will be heard based on the timeline of when the parties have to file and the Court's schedule. Late March 2008. Make that 69 years...

BTW, if you aren't reading Of Arms & the Law, what's wrong with you?

The Colt Meets The Dragon

Back in August after revisiting Xavier's post about the grips he purchased from Mr. Kim Son in Vietnam, I got to admiring the 1911 grips in water buffalo with the hand-carved dragon on them. I had to have them, you see I like dragons, they've fascinated me be it in my early days of RPG gaming or my love of aircraft. At the time I figured they'd look great on my Kimber Eclipse CLE II (they probably would), but they never got a chance to appear on the Kimber. A month later, I ran across the Colt MKIV at the PVR swap meet and picked it up as I've always wanted a Colt 1911 in stainless. The following week, the dragon grips arrived from Vietnam and thus the Colt meets the Dragon.

The first thing I noticed about the grips when I unpacked them is that the carving reveals the inner beauty of the water buffalo horn and gives the carving an almost golden appearance. I was pretty stoked about getting these grips on my newest baby, so I removed the stock Colt grips and dropped on the Dragons. To say they fit is understating the matter quite a bit. These grips appeared to almost suction onto the frame of the MKIV, I find that the come off just as easy, but there's no wiggle in them even without the grip screws installed. Like Xavier, I find this amazing given that Mr. Kim Son doesn't actually have access to a 1911 frame. The grips even fit over the new over-sized plunger tube I installed.

One thing I had hoped the carving would do is provide purchase to maintain a good grip while shooting and after shooting it last Saturday at PVR, I can say that the purchase is good, not up to snuff with checkered rubber, but then what is? It does allow clothing to slip over and off of the pistol while in carry mode and I don't see it ruining clothes like some of the agressive grips or skater tape will do.

As you can see in the pictures I took, the grips fit the frame VERY well and leave almost no gap with the grips landing just shy of the end of the grip frame. The only thing I find about these grips in particular that I don't really like is that the grip screws don't sit flush with the grips, they protrude a small amount, I don't know if there are screws available that have thinner heads and will sit flush, I might try some of the low profile grip screws to see, but it certainly doesn't dampen my enthusiasm for these grips.

In all, I think I've been very lucky to have ordered these grips and found a Colt that I've been wanting, perhaps I'm living right, who knows but I know that I'm pretty darned happy with this package.

ZOMBIES!!!

If you've been reading this blog for a year now then you might remember my little tidbit of information regarding a zombie attack last Halloween. If not then a little check of the archives should bring it up. Suffice it to say that "Sometimes I worry about Zombies"

First you have the George Romero zombies, then you have the Danny Boyle zombies, and lets not forget the Edgar Wright zombies. What's all this mean? Well it means you should be prepared for any eventuality so make sure your zombie survival tools are standing by and happy hunting.

Carry Ready Colt

OK, so I decided to make the Colt 1911 I bought recently carry ready. What does that mean? For me it means adding ergonomic features that ensure reliable operation of the firearm. I also had the loose plunger tube to replace, so last week I placed orders with Brownells and MidwayUSA.

First came the plunger tube, it was remarkably easy to replace with the Brownells tool and now I have a solid tube and a new tool. While I had the gun tore down, I replaced the trigger with a solid Ed Brown smooth, extended trigger to accommodate my big hands.

I don't have the heart to start carving on the Colt frame, so I purchased a Wilson Combat drop-in Beavertail grip safety to allow a higher and more consistent grip as well as prevent hammer-bite. The unit went in fairly easily, there was the usual fitting involved and the safety rubbed on the frame in a couple of spots, nothing a little abrasive applied judicously couldn't overcome. To match the new grip safety, I installed a Swenson Commander hammer after thinning it a bit and stoning the hooks down to .020. The trigger feels OK if not outstanding. The original sear was perfect, so I think smoothing up the hooks a bit would help some.

I then fitted the Cylinder and Slide extended thumb safety to the frame which pretty much completed my work, or so I thought. It turns out that the plunger tube I bought was oversized and that coupled with the extended safety meant I had to adjust the grips to allow for clearances, not a problem and easily done, but not expected on my part.

Whilst I had the gun completely tore down, I replaced nearly all the springs with new factory replacement Wolff Springs and adjusted the trigger spring to lighten up trigger pull a bit as well as cleaned out many years of gunk. The previous owner had not taken down the slide in a long time if ever, I think that's fine as far as I'm concerned, I know nothing's been monkeyed with. The oil inside the firing pin channel had actually turned to shellac, so a cleaning was indeed warranted.

I tested the function of the gun to make certain the disconnect does its job and that the safeties work properly and I even made certain that the firing pin would strike a primer by putting a pen down the barrel and "firing" it out of the gun. Everything seems great and I can't wait to get it to the range to function test it and make certain the modifications work and the plunger tube repair will hold. I'm confident in my work, but you don't know until you know.

As Seen On TV

I can't decide if this is an actual product, my BS detector went off while watching the commercial. If its real (and the patent is real), I'll never have to get out of bed to deal with intruders, now all I need is a bedside beer dispenser.

Grips Make The Gun

Its often said that clothes make the man, well, I wouldn't know about but I would extend that to grips and guns. Since I purchased the S&W M19, I've been wanting to get wood grips to dress it up, those rubbers are ugly.

Last week, I got my new Eagle Grips Secret Service grips for it in rosewood. They are comprable to the Hogue Bantam grips, however, I didn't have to wait 90 days for them and they look and fit great. I know Judge is a big fan of the Eagles he has on his Rugers for matches and now I'm a big fan.

The wood grips are smaller than the rubber monogrips, yet I don't think I'll give up much control because of the nicely contoured finger grooves, excellent fit and while my pinkie finger isn't fully on the grip, it can support the base of the grip to help with recoil. We'll see as soon as I can get to a range and try some practice and carry ammo through the little snubbie. The big bonus, other than looks, is the gun is a better concealment carry piece now. The rubber grips were indeed too grippy and hung onto clothing making draw a problem and heaven forbid I drop the gun in a pocket!

Yep, grips make the gun and in this case I've got what I want in a carry snubbie.