Associated Press stoops to a new low

I recently read an article about a tragic and horrible occurance in Ft. Drum, where an Army MP is accused of stabbing to death his two best friends, both of whom are also Ft. Drum soldiers.

An overall tragic situation, a soldier who was unable or unwilling to cope with the psychological effects of war who allegedly beat his wife, lost his faith in God, and apparently murdered his two closest friends.

Then I get to this line:

The shooting contains echoes of the Nov. 5 shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, where an Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Hasan, is accused of killing 13 people.

So much for editorial oversight. Are the staff writers at the AP so eager to get their bias across that they completely forget the basic facts of the event?

And how in the f**k do you make a comparison between a murderous Islamic fanatic who kills soldiers as part of his misguided holy war against America and a soldier who clearly couldn't handle the psychological toll of war?

News flash to the MSM: Major Hasan did not deploy, and does not have PTSD. Stop marginalizing a legitimate disorder while making a pathetic attempt to justify the actions of yet another Islamic terrorist.

Pet Peeve #176

Every day anti-gunners put out more material, nearly all of it based in distortions of fact, misrepresentations, fear-mongering, and often outright lies.

This blog posting may take the cake on a reality-distortion-per-word scale.

The general theme is: Guns didn't prevent the four police officers from being ambushed in Tacoma, Washington, therefore Guns = A Very Bad Thing.

Following the same train of "logic," I guess we should remove all smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and fire drills from our school systems, because they have been repeatedly failed to prevent fires.

The Freeholder brings this to our attention with a thorough fisking of some of the so-called data and outright lies, but my favorite quote from the article highlights one of my biggest pet peeves in the intertubes/blogosphere.

How about guns being used to kill innocent people? Type 'multiple shootings' into Google and you get over a million links.

This is relevant how? I've seen this kind of tripe in respected print publications. Since when did number of Google results become evidence for anything? I can type "I rock" into Google and get 193 million results! I guess that must make it true right?

Oh and for the author of that post, "gun saves lives" returns nearly 2.5 million results. Since this is apparently convincing evidence, I guess its time to change sides on the gun-control debate.

Fort Hood to require firearm registration

I can't say I didn't see this coming, but I am disappointed all the same. I had a glimmer of hope that the brass would make a good decision and loosen the firearm restrictions, but alas...

Soldiers assigned to Fort Hood will have to register their personal firearms with the director of emergency services... (more)

This would seem to include registration of privately owned firearms that are stored off-base, which is a constitutionally questionable measure.

Keep in mind, Maj. Hasan had been flagged by the FBI months in advance of this shooting, and this information had been shared with military intelligence. If they are unwilling to take action on a suspected Islamofacist terrorist, how will a list of soldiers who own firearms (all of them) help prevent future attacks?

Justice after all...

When I feel like I have lost all hope in humanity, stories like this both reinforce and shatter my perception simultaneously.

The young man was given three choices: get turned over to the police, go one-on-one in a fight with a seasoned war veteran, or be duct-taped to a flagpole for six hours with a sign around his neck identifying his alleged crime: flag burning. (more)

I'd like to buy the vets at that VFW a round.

What she said

Tamara at View from the Porch, says it better than I ever could

An army at war does not have the luxury of "safe at home". Do you think the bomber crews of the Mighty Eighth landed in southern England after pasting the hell out of the Nazis and called out "Olly olly oxen free! We're safe at home now; we'll be putting on our slippers and lighting a pipe. No fair bombing us 'til tomorrow, Adolf!" or do you think they made sure that there were plenty of slit trenches, anti-aircraft guns, and armed guards on the base?

Media Cluelessness

Seen on Captain of a Crew of One

"The initial investigation shows that Hasan allegedly used only one gun during the attack — a 5.7-caliber semiautomatic pistol."

Hmm. For some perspective... (read more)

News Flash! VA CHPs cause mass murder!

According to Dan Casey of the Roanoke Times

One interesting note, among many: Hasan was issued a Virginia concealed handgun permit by the Roanoke County Circuit Court in 1996.

This of course was derived from a FOIA request by the paper to the VA State Police for names and home addresses of all CHP permit holders in the state. A list including undercover police officers and persons in witness protection programs. The Roanoke Times publish the complete list... and only later removed it after public outcry. Seems they have kept those records open to their so called "journalists."

Some of the comments are gems... some, including Dan Casey, arguing that his faith was as irrelevant as his MD, or being a Tech grad.

To quote commenter Walker, someone who gets it:

Most doctors don't recite their code of ethics before killing 13 people. I guess yelling "Alluha Akbar " before he began shooting has no bearing on this.

I added my own comments, it is apparent to me that Dan Casey doesn't trust the US military with guns.

Link to the whole mess

Fort Hood Shooting

Wow... where to begin.

I am infuriated and embarrassed. What has our society come to when a base full of soldiers, trained in the use of weapons and lethal force, standing ready to deploy and visit harm upon the enemies of the United States, are herded into a victim disarmament zone, ready for slaughter like so many cattle. When my fellow soldiers, each of whom I trust with my life, are not trusted by our beauracratic leadership, both military and civilian, with the tools to defend their own lives.

Not to mention that the perpetrator was a MUSLIM, of Arab descent, and reportedly shouted a phrase in Arabic, Allahu Akbar, that is the usual last words of jihadi suicide bombers, yet the whipped dog mainstream media is afraid of drawing the obvious conclusion, while they wildly and irresponsibly speculate about every other facet of the attack. This man was no pyschotic criminal, his past is littered with indicators that show alignment with a particularly anti-American and homicidal version of Islam. Comparing suicide bombers with self-sacrificing soldiers is just one example.

Lets make it totally clear, this was not a crime, catastrophe, not even an act of terrorism, but an ATTACK on the United States military by an operative of our enemy - Radical Islam. I may be labeled racist or xenophobic or any number of terms used to slime political opponents and stifle free speech, but without properly identifying the enemy, he can never be defeated.

We are waging a religious war. This labeling is disastrous for our public relations with the rest of the Muslim world, but it is the truth nonetheless. This is not a battle between Christianity and Islam, it is not a new Crusade. It is struggle to the death between a secular western society and the followers of radicalized Islam - Islamofascists. It is no different from the worldwide war against secular fascism in the 1930s and 40s. The only difference is that we as a society are too chickenshit to properly label the enemy as being associated with a particular religion for fear of being labeled intolerant. As long as this attitude persists, we will never win.

Our soldiers fight this war everywhere, 24/7 - 365. They deserve the support, the trust, and the tools to effectively wage it, both abroad and on their bases at home. This attack is not the first on a military base and will not be the last. As our enemies realize that military bases are easy to infiltrate and extremely soft targets, these attacks will increase in quantity and severity. There are two options forward. Either arm the soldiers on base (this includes at National Guard armories), or persist in a negligent policy of disarmament and continue to pay the butcher's bill in soldier's lives.

Update: Mike Vanderboegh sums up similar sentiments at Sipsey Street Irregulars

Update: Obama gets in on the "cultural sensitivity" circle jerk, telling us "don't jump to conclusions". Apparently to our dear leader, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a friggen duck, its a giraffe.

And apparently this was all caused by a slip of paper

Thoughts on the election results

I predict that the combination of McDonnell and AG Cucinelli in VA, bi-partisan pro-2A support in the state congress, and the continued efforts of the VCDL will push Virginia to the forefront of the pro-gun and pro-freedom political sphere.

As it should be.

First on the list will be to remove the inane CC ban in restaurants, which has already been passed twice by the state Senate and House of Delegates. Hopefully state preemption of public universities prohibition of firearms through policy will follow.

If you live in Virginia, and care about gun rights, join the VCDL. They are the guys behind the scenes that will push this legislation forward.

Hell, even if you don't, the VCDL has done more for gun rights in the past 5 years than most national 2A organizations, and deserves your support.

Stop buying cheap ammo! (from Walmart)

As ride the falling wave of the Obama guns and ammo buying craze, many threads on various 2A discussion forums are focused on where to buy cheap (and in stock) ammo. Invariably Walmart is a popular suggestion, with some threads keeping running updates on the status of the ammo shelf at the local Wally World.

I have a problem with this, because Walmart is a blantantly anti-gun and anti-freedom corporation. If you care at all about the preservation of 2A rights, and the regaining of some of those natural rights we have lost over the years, you will boycott Walmart.

Generally folk who consider themselves 2A supporters don't patronize anti-gun businesses that do not allow lawful concealed or open carry, we should apply the same criteria to businesses that support anti-rights groups.

Walmart is one of those businesses. They are in bed with Bloomberg, the Brady Bunch, Micheal Moore and a bunch more anti's.

Notice how they have been shutting down more and more gun counters? No more handguns. All of this as a result of Micheal Moore and the Brady Brunch's post Columbine blood dance.

No "handgun" ammo for someone without a photo ID proving they are over 21. "Handgun" ammo to them means any round that can be fired by a handgun, including .22 Long Rifle.

And now videotaping every firearm purchaser, as well as maintaining a registry of people who buy both guns and ammunition.

And this gem

If a person who buys a gun linked to a crime were to return to a Wal-Mart to buy another gun, the purchase would be flagged. It would then be up to the store whether to permit the purchase.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/nyregion/15bloomberg.html?ref=nyregion

So if a gun is stolen from me, and I report it stolen (linked to a crime), I may not be able to buy another gun from Walmart.

This one worries me too

When fully put into effect, the agreement would also prohibit the sale of a gun to someone whose background check comes back with inconclusive results.

I have no idea what qualifies as "inconclusive"

Walmart is not the only game in town for cheap ammo. If you aren't going to support your local FFL, you might as well shop online. Even with shipping, you can get ammo online cheaper than Walmart.

JPFO alerts us (and the BATFE) to backdoor gun registration

Link here

Go and read the whole thing.

Long story short, the ATF has created and is building a registry of American gun owners, including name, address, and make, model, serial number of the gun.

While it is based off of records from FFLs who have died or gone out of business, it includes 380 million (!) records and is growing by 1 million records a month. This is in direct violation of a handful of laws, including the 1986 Firearm Owner's Protection Act, and a handful of appropriation bills.

If this isn't enough, this information is being freely shared with foreign governments, including the United Nations, Mexico, and Columbia. Since when did Congress grant the BATFE power to surrender United States sovereignty to foreign powers?

Oh, this computerized registry is also sortable by firearm caliber or type, i.e. .50 cal or assault rifle chamberings. Coincidence?

Hat tip to War on Guns

Bar Stool Economics

I found this surfing over at American Warmonger, so I'll shamelessly repost here because it deserves to be seen.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer, and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:



The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18.The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. So, that's what they decided to do.



The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.'



Drinks for the ten now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free, but what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33 but if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so: The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings). The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings). The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings). Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free.



But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. 'I only got a dollar out of the $20,' declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, 'But he got $10!' 'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!' 'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!' 'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!' The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill! And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen,
Ph.D.Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

A good explanation of why Obama and his Democratic Congress' policies will turn our recession into a Depression... or worse.

Outstanding Op-Ed in Miami Herald

How refreshing

Some of my favorite excerpts

A student who speaks up about the right to own or carry a gun stands a good chance of getting suspended or even arrested:

When a Central Connecticut State University senior fulfilled a communications-class assignment by giving a presentation on why students and professors should be allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus, his professor reported him to the police, who called him in for questioning. Professor Paula Anderson, questioned by a reporter from the school paper, was unrepentant: The student was a ''perceived risk'' and she had a ``responsibility to protect the well-being of our students.''

• Like old Soviet commissars clapping dissidents into psychiatric hospitals, administrators at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., responded to a student's e-mail criticizing school policy on concealed weapons by suspending him and ordering him to undergo a ``mental health examination.''

...

Tarrant County College, near Fort Worth, took the no-mention policy a step further, banning a student from wearing an empty holster to protest the campus ban on concealed guns. ''We're protecting the learning environment,'' explained Juan Garcia, the school's vice president for student development and, clearly, a devoted scholar of academic doublespeak.

...

Of course, their definition of ''offensive'' has a distinct political overlay. I've never heard of a college student being suspended for calling George Bush a moron or Dick Cheney a war criminal. But making fun of feminists (Colorado College), opposing gay marriage (Los Angeles City College) or reading a book -- a critical book -- about the Ku Klux Klan (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) will bring down the wrath of administrators in a politically correct heartbeat.

I shudder to think of the reaction of my school administrators if they found out about this blog (not that it deters me in the least).

JMU's campus carry policies

As I mentioned in my last post, SCCC's "Empty Holster" protest is ruffling some feathers in academia, including a nearby Virginia public university, James Madison University. Some professors are aghast that college students are using their freedoms of speech and peaceable assembly to protest the infringement of their 2nd Amendment rights. You know, kinda how the Founder's of our Republic intended.

An e-mail from a professor to a student leader for 2A rights

Dear Mr. :

As a faculty member I received your message, forwarded by Chief Schifflett, about the SCCC's plan to wear holsters next Thursday, the 23rd, though the Chief listed the 24th as the date. I have a couple of questions and comment.

First, is it the 23rd or 24th?

Second, I asked my students this morning if they new about the planned protest. They did not. Are you planning to make sure the JMU community is notified that some students are planning to wear holsters while on campus? I know you notified the Chief, but are you sure the message will get to the majority of the students? Can you imagine the level of fear if it doesn't? Wouldn't do your cause much good.

Third, even after I explained to my students that the holsters would be empty and, using SCCC's website, the reason for the protest, my students did not think the holster wearing was a good idea. It scares them, makes them feel less safe, as does the idea of students carrying concealed weapons on campus. So you may want to consider if a significant number of your peers support your cause. You and other SCCC members certainly have a right to feel safe in your daily lives, but so does every other citizen.

Sincerely,

Kenneth Wright

Dr. Kenneth R. Wright
Associate Professor
Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
(540) 568-6162

This guy's attitude boggles me. Apparently you can only protest if a "significant number of your peers" support your cause. For a professor of "Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication" his comprehension sucks. The entire purpose of the protest is to raise awareness and garner support!

It gets better.

Anecdotal evidence is that some professors are planning to cancel classes or bar students with empty holsters from class.

Which leads me to JMU's Student Handbook - Student Rights and Responsibilities. It starts off well enough, with a refreshing affirmation of student rights, which would seem to leave any anti-Empty Holster professors with no ground to stand on.

The student as a citizen has the rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly and association, freedom of political beliefs and freedom from personal force and violence, threats of violence and personal abuse.

(bold added)

and

Students who hold opinions about basic policy matters of direct concern to them have the right to have them heard...

However JMU Policy 1105 is just the opposite, and denies students, faculty, and even visitors basic human rights.

Some excerpts

No person shall carry, maintain, or store a weapon, concealed or otherwise, on any property owned, leased, or controlled by James Madison University. This policy applies to weapons carried about the person and maintenance or storage of any weapon in any university facility or within any parked vehicle on university premises.

Victim disarmament zone... check.

6.1 Weapons discovered on university premises in violation of this policy will be seized by the police or the Office of Public Safety, and the owner will forfeit ownership.

Waive your 2nd and 4th amendment rights...

Any visitor violating this policy will be subject to being barred from campus.

...and then get barred from public property that YOU own as a citizen of the state.

This policy does not apply to law enforcement officials duly authorized to carry such weapons.

The "Only Ones" exception. You (law-abiding citizen) can't be trusted.

The authority to interpret this policy rests with the President, and is generally delegated to the Chief of Police.

Zero democratic oversight... and judicial interpretation granted to law enforcement... nice.

So I know I'm missing some but here's the Top 5 laws that this policy violates.

1. 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed

2. 4th Amendment to the US Constitution

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

3. Section 10, Virginia Bill of Rights

That general warrants, whereby an officer or messenger may be commanded to search suspected places without evidence of a fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, or whose offense is not particularly described and supported by evidence, are grievous and oppressive, and ought not to be granted.

4. Section 13, Virginia Bill of Rights

That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.

5. Virginia Preemption Law

No locality shall adopt or enforce any ordinance, resolution or motion, as permitted by � 15.2-1425, and no agent of such locality shall take any administrative action, governing the purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying, storage or transporting of firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof other than those expressly authorized by statute.

The list could go on, but I think that's enough. I still can't understand why college administrators still think their doctorates and reserved parking spaces somehow grant them the authority to supersede the US Constitution, the VA Constitution, and the authority of the state legislators.

Empty Holster protest

This week (April 20-24) is the SCCC's "Empty Holster" protest. Pretty simple idea, openly wear an empty holster around campus and to class to protest your universities policy against carry on campus (nearly all have them).

Sadly, but predictably, this has ruffled some feathers in academia. The blowback has ranged from angry e-mails to campus organizers (from professors), cancelled classes, and at least one anecdotal instance of a professor barring students from wearing holsters to class. Apparently the often vaunted freedom of speech, expression, and political protest that is supposed to be fostered in an academic environment only applies if you conform to the liberal agendas pervasive to academia.

A blog to watch

No not this one... I've been slacking lately.

This one.

I started this in July, 1968. My friends and I have examined every American gun control law, and every law that permits, allows, encourages, or requires citizens to own guns. All 22,309 of them. On the way, we gathered 26 four drawer filing cabinets of information on crime reporting, crime statistics based on crime reporting, and a host of other things. At the end, I intend to bring it all together and explain why I describe gun control advocates in just two words and a prefix. Pro crime activists.

Groups and Pictures

Found my camera, so I'll throw up some pictures of the groups I've been getting with my custom Rem 700 30-06. This is definitely a sub-.25 MOA capable rifle, and the reason the groups are larger than that is 5% ammo, 95% shooter, and 0% rifle.

These are some of my better groups, all but the lower right is Black Hills 168gr Match. The bottom right one is my best group from my first go at handloading. Bottom left is .233 MOA, my best, with the exception of the 5 shot group explained a little further down.

(Click on any of the pictures to make them scary big)


Another 3-shot group with my reloads, this time using Federal brass. .695"-.308"= .387 MOA



5-shot group, nothing special. However, shot 1 was high center. shot 2 was left, and the next 3 punched a ragged .1 MOA hole. My best 3-shot string so far, I just wish I hadn't screwed up the first 2.



Another 5-shot group (.889"-.308'=.581 MOA)



And lastly my rifle. Her name is Eve. She's not as pretty as the lady who usually shares my bed, but she's pretty enough for me.



Rem 700 long-action, Brux straight taper heavy barrel, Bell and Carlson stock w/ aluminum bedding block (and skim bedded), custom ground recoil lug, Mueller Tactical 4-16x40 Illum Mil-dot scope, Leupold Mk4 rings on snipercentral.com 15 MOA bases, Tac-ops cheekpiece, harris bipod.

Action work (and other work) done by Billy Dale

(Excuse the crappy pictures...I need to get better lighting.)

Rolling my own..

...30-06 rounds. My shipment of reloading equipment arrived in the mail a few days ago, and I've jumped right in to reloading precision rounds for my custom Rem 700 30-06.

Finding primers was somewhat of an adventure, as nobody consistently can keep large rifle primers in stock in the area, and what is available is not the best. I settled on some CCI and Winchester LR primers, as well as a box of CCI Magnum's because they supposedly work better in cold weather.

My rifle has averaged under .5 MOA at 100 yds with Black Hills and Federal Gold Medal Match factory loads, but I thought I could do better, and there is no way I'm going to keep shelling out 30 bucks for a box of 20 Black Hills or over 40 for a box of Fed GMM (Although the Black Hills shoots better anyway).

I realize I'm going to have to do alot of load development to improve on the Black Hills loads because it consistently shoots sub-.25 MOA, and my best 3-shot string was .083 MOA.

My first attempt was mediocre with the averages in the .75 MOA range, but I'll be playing with bullet seating depth to try to improve upon it. I realized that my rifle has a very tight chamber, and most factory loads have the bullet seated .020" or more too far out.

I've brewed up a few dozen more rounds and am ready for round two the next time I can scoot on out to the range. The great part about reloading is I don't feel as much guilt when buying equipment and components because I think about the savings in the long run.

This post (and any others by madgunsmith) over at the Sniper Central forums is an excellent resource for someone who wants to get into reloading, acquire quality equipment that lasts, and wants to do it on a budget.

Pictures to follow if I can ever find my camera.

UPDATE: Pictures!

Nice timing

I've recently blogged about the disarmament policy at Virginia Commonwealth university.

Well the timing couldn't be better, because the man in charge of enforcing that policy, VCU Chief of Police William Fuller, was just arrested for soliciting sex from a 14-year old girl.

Read the story here

Even better, when a student applies in writing to the president of the university for permission to carry as per Virginia Code 8VAC90-10-50, they receive a letter of denial from this man's office.

What Calibers do you keep stocked?

This post over at Snowflakes in Hell inspired me to make a list of my own.

I consider my stockpile to be dangerously low at the moment, but I'm not willing to pay the premium being charged for ammunition these days, especially since I'm just beginning to get into reloading.

In random order.

1. 7.62x39mm - My go-to SHTF round. Roughly 1000 rds, not nearly enough. About 500 rds ready to go in 30 and 40 round magazines, with one 100 rd drum.

2. .45 - My carry pistol, about 700 rounds mix of ball and defensive HP, 10 magazines full

3. 9mm - I just use this for target shooting, so only about 100-150 rounds at a time

4. .22 - Usually a brick or two, I'm in the market for a .22 pistol or a .22 slide for my 1911, so I'll being stocking a bit more in the future.

5. .38 Special - 100 rounds or so for target practice with my wheelgun.

6. .357 - About 50 rounds for when I OC my wheelgun.

7. 30-06 - Primary hunting and precision shooting ammo. 400 rounds, mostly Korean surplus M2 Ball, about 100 rounds of Federal and Black Hills 168gr match. My Garand is on the way from CMP with another ~200 rds in stripper clips, and I've also recently acquired a reloading setup for 30-06.

8. .380 ACP - Ammo for my BUG, about 100 rds assorted.

9. .17 HMR - 150 or so rounds for varmint and paper punching.

10. 12 gauge - not really sure, but somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 rounds, assortment of all types, from tactical slug to target load.

11. Can't forget the blackpowder. My only limit is primers, as I can manufacture the powder, ball, etc. myself.

Used to have a .40 XD but swapped it for a .380 BUG a while ago. If I every buy a dedicated competition gun it will be a .40.

I should start stocking up on .223 awaiting my AR upper, but the prices are thru the roof.

I'm seriously considering getting a Mosin-Nagant, SVT-40, or Dragunov copy so I can shoot the extremely cheap but powerful (and corrosive) 7.62x54R.

Nonetheless, I consider myself a below average firearm collector, but my meager ammunition stockpile is enough to give the anti's a coronary, and I would most certainly be affected by some of the anti-"stockpile" legislation that has been proposed.

Stimulus package cost = $10,000 per family!

This is outrageous.

VCU Disarmament Policy, part 3

I was just linked by War on Guns. Thanks to David Codrea, this is a big help to getting my blog out there on the intarwebz.

His comments:

My own thoughts are to do what I think is necessary--a hell of a risk to demand a free man to take. You can only marvel at the evil mind that thought that one up, and the ignorant ones that think it makes them safer.

I happen to agree, and I should note, the disarmament policy is met with widespread noncompliance by freedom loving students (and at least one professor I know of) on a daily basis on campus.

Check out discussion of this over at VA OCDO.

Socialism is not the answer

As I was perusing Drudge Report yesterday, I noticed this article on the collapse of the Icelandic government following the economic collapse that occurred a few months ago.

The causes of Iceland's financial woes are similar to the problems our nation currently faces: Rapid expansion, deficit spending, inflation, unemployment, foreign debt, and a devalued currency.

I shook my head as I read further:

Haarde's government has nationalized banks and negotiated about $10 billion in loans from the IMF and individual countries.

"Fools," I thought. "When will the world wake up and realize that socialism is not the answer, and you cannot spend your way out of debt."

Then, with disbelief in horror, I clicked on another article linked by Drudge.

Pelosi: Nationalization of Banks Possible

Some will never learn.

New Shotgun Sights

Article here. Makes me realize that I really,really need to go to SHOT Show.

Although I prefer red-dot CCO's for speed with my tactical shotty, these seem like a great backup, and nearly as fast. The concept behind them, simply put the tip of the triangle where you want to hit is so simple I am amazed we haven't seen it before on iron sights.

Update to VCU Disarmament Policy

Original post here

Lots of informative discussion on this thread at VA OCDO.

Looks like being asked to leave, and charged with trespass if you refuse is covered.

When the accused is a licensee, invitee, or visitor, authorization to remain on the campus or other facilities used by the university may be withdrawn, and he may be directed to leave the premises. Failure to leave or unauthorized return may subject the individual to applicable penalties under city, county, or state laws. A licensee, invitee, or visitor may petition the president of the university in writing to authorize a hearing before the University Hearing Board to determine whether there are proper and sufficient grounds for being excluded from university premises. The University Hearing Board shall present its recommendations directly to the president. There will be no further appeal.

From 8VAC90-10-150. Penalties against a licensee or invitee.

Thanks to TexasNative for pointing this out.

The question remains, what rights does a Virginia citizen have to be on the property of a Virginia public university.

EDIT: Some who are not familiar with the City of Richmond may ask, "why is this a big issue, just stay away from VCU." Unfortunately, VCU sprawls across the city, from the capital all the way to the edge of the Fan residential district. It is very difficult to enter, exit, or travel through large parts of the city without passing through the university.

New blog by 2nd Amendment Scholar

David E. Young now has a blog. And his first post probably contains more useful information than in the entirety of most firearms rights blogs, including this one.

Thanks to Snowflakes in Hell

VCU Disarmament Policy

I attend Virginia Commonwealth University. If you are not familiar with this school:

Virginia Commonwealth University is the largest university in Virginia and ranks among the top 100 universities in the country in sponsored research. Located on two downtown campuses in Richmond, VCU enrolls 32,000 students in 205 certificate and degree programs in the arts, sciences and humanities.

A legal question exists in Virginia as to whether or not carrying a firearm at VCU is against the law. The VCDL website lists VCU as off-limits to carry, and it is mentioned in most CCW classes as an off-limits location. This is because of 8VAC90-10-50, a section of Virginia Administrative Code that covers the code of conduct at VCU.

Specifically,

...no person, either singly or in concert with others, shall willfully... Have in his possession any firearm, other weapon, or explosive, regardless of whether a license to possess the same has been issued, without the written authorization of the president of the university. This restriction does not apply to persons whose duties lawfully require the possession of firearms or other weapons.

However, this is not Criminal Code, and violating Administrative Code is not a crime. Furthermore, this section of State Administrative Code was drafted by the VCU Board of Visitors, NOT the State Legislature. The authority to do this was granted by 23-50.10.

Another problem with this "law" is that it would be impossible to fairly enforce. VCU is a spread out, urban university, and city property and VCU property blend together with no clear definition. To effectively enforce this law, VCU would need to post hundreds if not thousands of signs deliniating the boundaries to its property. But hey, its all public property anyway, so this should really be a non-issue.

Also, Virginia has a state preemption law pertaining to firearms laws. This law essentially prevents localities and agencies from making any firearms related laws or ordinances. However, this does not currently apply to VCU (or other public universities), as it is part of the state government. VCDL is currently pushing legislation to expand preemption to state agencies.

Further invalidating this prohibition, is a recent Attorney General opinion. (.pdf)

This opinion states:

Governing boards of Virginia’s public colleges and universities may not impose general prohibition on carrying of concealed weapons by permitted individuals.

Further reading of the opinion seems to indicate that universities CAN deny its students and faculty the Right to Carry, but it may not deny this right to non-student/faculty. Even as it does apply to students/faculty, it may not apply when someone is not on the property in the capacity of a student or employee. This creates yet another enforcement headache.

The current state of firearms law in Virginia is flawed, because state agencies such as universities, public housing, and wildlife management are permitted to create policies that are contradictory to state law. Unfortunately, these policies are often adopted with little or no legislative review into Virginia Adminstrative Code.

The VCU issue is badly in need of a test case. My personal opinion is that a non-student faculty could carry on VCU legally. If they chose to open carry, I imagine they would have an unpleasant encounter with VCU police and be asked to leave VCU property (wherever that ends). I believe that a police order to leave the public areas of a public university without cause would be an illegal order, but refusal to do so would most likely end up with a trip to jail and a trespass charge. This would then be the test case that we have been waiting for (and possibly a settlement for the OC'er).

I can only hope that the VCDL is successful in gaining full state preemption, and this issue can be resolved without such an unpleasant incident.

Update: ProShooter over at the VA OCDO forums pointed out another exception to this rule that I missed.

His post:

This issue is raised every once in a while in our classes. While you quoted an important part of the statute, you need to back it up a bit to get the full definition. Therein lies the answer to the question...

8VAC90-10-50. The right to academic freedom and to equal educational and occupational access.

The university is committed to providing an environment conducive to academic freedom, free inquiry, and equal access to educational and occupational opportunities. The principle of academic freedom requires all persons to respect another's dignity, to acknowledge another's right to express differing opinions, to cultivate and to cherish intellectual honesty, and to promote freedom of inquiry and expression. It is therefore the policy of the university that no act of any member of the university community shall serve to restrain or inhibit access to opportunities or the exercise of these freedoms. To that end, no person, either singly or in concert with others, shall willfully:

4. Have in his possession any firearm, other weapon, or explosive, regardless of whether a license to possess the same has been issued, without the written authorization of the president of the university. This restriction does not apply to persons whose duties lawfully require the possession of firearms or other weapons.

The phrase "To that end" starts off the "no person shall have a firearm" clause. "To that end" refers back to the previous sentence that references "members of the university community". These members are of course students, teachers and other employees. They are the only prohibited group of people who cannot carry at VCU, and the only group of people that VCU holds any authority over.

ETA - This is of course my opinion and reading. Feel free to consult an attorney for legal advice.

It should be important to note that ProShooter, while not a lawyer, runs the Richmond area firearms training company Proactive Shooters.

EDIT 2: Another update here.

EDIT 3: Tertiary Update here.

It just keeps getting better - Four days after I first posted this the VCU Chief of Police is arrested for soliciting sex from a 14 year old.

More commentary on Va Tech decapitation

From the left coast of all places

It is time to repeal gun bans from so-called "sensitive" areas, because time and time again criminals and maniacs have taken advantage of "gun-free" zones to spread their terror.

I find it striking that some news agencies are still reporting this as a stabbing, not as the drawn out, horrific crime it really was. Perhaps it is too frightening to them to consider the fact that such horrible things can happen in this world, and no amount of laws will stop evil criminals, who by definition have no regard for the law.

Thanks to Repeater over at OCDO for bringing this article to my attention.

Hell just froze over

Story here

And Caroline McCarthy forgot her long underwear.

Perhaps the coolest thing on the Intarwebz

Brownell's AR-15 builder

This is what I've been doing during my classes... thank god for the GI Bill.

Thanks to Sebastian for showing me this gem.

Rainbow Farting Unicorns

Day three and still no damn unicorns.


The good news is, the gun-grabbing underwear gnomes are also still noticeably absent.

David Olofson

If you are a gun owner and not familiar with this case, you need to be.

If your firearm malfunctions and fires more than one shot per pull of the trigger, (ie hammer follow in semi-autos, and some old double shotguns) you are a felon guilty of possessing an unregistered machinegun in the eyes of the BATFE.

Because the goons over at the ATF can't seem to get enough egg on their face, they decided to go after a 15-year Army veteran, married with 3 children, and a spotless criminal history. And aggressively pursue prosecution on a shaky case using shadier methods.

Much more information is available on many other blogs.

Murder at Va Tech

A young Chinese graduate student was murdered yesterday at Virginia Tech.

How does this relate to gun law?

Apparently she was decapitated in a cafe at a residence hall with a kitchen knife. While at least 7 bystanders watched in horror. The police arrived in a minute after the 911 call but it was far too late. (Remember, when seconds count, police are only minutes away)

Still wondering how it relates?

Virginia Tech, even after the April 16 Massacre, prohibits students and faculty from carrying weapons (especially guns) for self defense. While I'm not claiming that this law would have changed the outcome of this tragedy, at least 22 year-old Xin Yang might have had a chance against a deranged older man wielding a kitchen knife.

Details here

David Codrea (and others) agrees


I will be blogging more about disarmament of universities later.

How to be a better victim

My university, in its infinite wisdom, has published advice to students on how to bend over and take it, err, I mean be a better victim.

From the University Student Health Services:

A student from New York came up with the “Two-Wallet Strategy” that he uses when out socializing. This strategy involves putting money and an ID into one wallet and putting money and a different ID into a second wallet or pocket. This way, if a mugger demands your money, you can give one wallet or pocket — but you will still have what’s in the other to help you get home.

Inspired by this student's strategy, we have created the “Safety Wallet.” It’s full of other innovative strategies for staying safe when you’re out socializing, such as the “Watch Your BAC” Strategy and the Party Smart Guide! You can get a free Safety Wallet at The Well as long as supplies last, so come by and pick one up!

Link

To give some perspective, this is the largest university in the state, with somewhere in the range of 35,000 students and faculty. It is an urban campus, where it is impossible to travel from one building to another without traveling outside of university property. It also exists in a city that is usually listed in the top ten per capita for violent crime and murder.

If thats not bad enough, legally carrying a weapon for self-defense is against school policy, and may be against state law.

More on this here

Ivory Towers of Education

Received this in my e-mail as part of a weekly "telegram to students"

A Socialist Perspective of the Gaza Conflict
International Students for Social Equality will give a lecture analyzing the history of the Gaza conflict from a socialist perspective on Thursday, Jan. 22, at noon in the University Student Commons, Virginia Room B. This event is free. For more information, contact lassahnjs@vcu.edu.

Sponsored by the World Socialist Web Site and International Committee of the Fourth International.

I see on a regular basis students sporting Keffiyeh's, pro-Palestinian propaganda on bulletin boards, and now this "Hands off Gaza!" lecture/rally. And all this at what is considered a relatively conservative state public university.

I invoke Godwin, and see no difference between keffiyah sporting socialists and swastika armband wearing Hitler Youth. While I sympathize somewhat with the plight of the Palestinian people, Israel is going after a terrorist group who preaches and practices the elimination of all Jews in Israel. Oh, and the Palestinian people elected this same group to govern them.

This is why I carry (and you should too)

Because there are a whole bunch of absolutely crazy folk out there.

Woman goes into an electronics store with a bow (and arrows) and a fake gun, shoots one fella, then at least 2 other employees with CCWs draw and fire on her. She retreats, and when police arrive to rescue the man down, she nocks another arrow, prompting police to fire on her.

Amazingly, she's in "fair" condition after sustaining multiple GSWs from at least 3 shooters. Seems like they need to either spend more time on the range or seriously reconsider their choice of caliber.

First seen here

Update: Apparently CCW #1 put multiple rounds of .380 in her, CCW #2 fired over her head to try to scare her, and she kept at it until police arrived 25 minutes later. CCW #2 fired over her head because she was apparently the mentally disturbed daughter of a fellow employee.

First Post

Well if anyone ever comes across this blog, they may ask... why yet another blog. The internet is over saturated with opinion pieces, "news," rants, and mindless puff about my cat fluffy. To be honest, I simply don't care whether this blog should exist or not... or if anyone ever reads it.

I am frustrated. I am fed up. I needed a place to vent. With the inauguration of His Holiness Obama, the assault on the US Constitution and fundamental human rights, and the slow and seemingly unstoppable slide towards socialism in America, I feel that the majority of the American public exists in a persistent vegitative state. What is more frustrating is my powerlessness to do anything about it.

So I will blog and I will vent and if anyone ever reads this I may post pertinent links to items of interest that are important to me and which I feel should be important to you. The attack on the US Constitution, with emphasis on the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 10th, and 14th Amendments. The dumbing down of America. Our slide into socialism. Gun news. Or anything else really cool that just needs a few more hits on Google.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it's natural manure." Thomas Jefferson, Nov. 13. 1787