Month: November 2018
Wayne County Commissioner Introduces Ammunition Control
Detroit, Michigan –-(Ammoland.com)- Wayne County commissioner Reggie Davis decided that since he can’t ban guns due to the Second Amendment, he would go after ammunition sales.
Davis is proposing new rules for the purchase of ammunition in Wayne County.
Wayne County is the most populous county in Michigan. It is home to 1.7 million people and includes the city of Detroit. The county encompasses a total area of 673 square miles.
Davis’s “bullet bill” ordinance would require law enforcement approval before a buyer could purchase ammunition. The buyer would also have to go through a mental screening to qualify to buy ammo. The buyer would need to repeat these steps for each new ammunition purchase. The purchaser would be forced to cover the cost of the screening.
Gun shows would be exempt, but the buyer would still have to produce a non-expired certificate from a mental health screening stating that they are eligible to purchase ammunition.
“We’re up against some state and federal laws. Even if it takes me going to lobby in D.C., and I expect it will, we need to make these changes,” Davis told the Detroit Free Press.
Not only will Davis’s “bullet bill” increase the cost and time that it would take a consumer to buy ammunition by forcing them to go through a mental background check, but the bill would also put a new tax on all ammo sold to customers.
According to Davis, the money collected via the tax would go to teach students “about the second amendment, about how to use a gun safely and about gun violence.”
Davis does not believe his legislation be to unconstitutional. Although he does expect resistance from pro-gun groups like the NRA, he considers his proposal as a common-sense reform. He also states that he is a believer in the Second Amendment and has respect for groups such as the NRA.
Davis hopes to work with the NRA to find a compromise that would be agreeable to all parties. So far, the NRA does not have a public stance on the “bullet bill.” This lack of a stance is most likely due to the newness of the proposed legislation.
Davis was a gun owner who claimed to own Glocks, sawed-off shotguns, and sniper rifles. An assailant shot and killed Davis’s brother. This experience set Davis off on his crusade for gun reform. Davis no long owns any firearms.
Others do not share Davis’s opinion that this move is constitutional and sees other motives for the ordinance including continued racism by the Democratic party.
“As the President of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies who happens to be on the NRA Board, I’ll call this what it is. This is clear and obvious racism by Democrats running Wayne County on behalf of the progressive socialist political agenda,” National Federation of Republican Assemblies President Willes Lee told AmmoLand. “Heck, this is economic discrimination, hitting friends who most need self-protection and can least afford this proposed so-called ‘public safety’ measure.”
Lee went on to tell AmmoLand, “Our Second Amendment ‘Shall Not Be Infringed’ does not include law-abiding neighbors paying for forced mental evaluations by progressive doctors to exercise our God-given right of self-defense. It does not include Wayne County’s liberal law enforcement granting ‘approval’ of good folks’ right to defend their life. ‘Shall not be infringed’ does not include or even imply an additional tax on those least able to afford it, taking food off their table, to defend their children and property.”
Lee is not alone in his beliefs. AmmoLand spoke to Gun Owners of America Director of Communications Jordan Stein about the proposal. He too does not believe it to be constitutional.
“Just as firearms are protected under the Second Amendment, ammunition is secured as well,” Stein told AmmoLand. “As every other prior restraint on the Second Amendment, this proposed gun control will be ignored by criminals and make it harder for honest people to defend themselves.”
AmmoLand reached out to Davis to get a comment about how this proposal would hurt poor shooters from places like the inner city of Detroit more than shooters from the middle-class suburbs, but Davis did not return our request for comment as of the time of this writing.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.
Now these are a great starter gun for Folks just getting into rifle shooting. What with the lightweight and almost no recoil of the 22 long rifle round.
But one would be wise to replace the rear sight with either a scope or a peep sight. As the rear sight is really only the weakness of this rifle. At least for me that is.
Interesting Magna porting on this rifle to help with the recoil.
Categories
What to say when the Cops show up!
https://youtu.be/nZxaSVwnNO0
A Jury of your “Peers”
Even with the new style of stuff used. (Stainless Steel & Laminated Wood) This is still a great looking rifle! Grumpy
CA Gov. Jerry Brown Vetoed Bipartisan Wildfire Management Bill in 2016
Last year, as all Hell was breaking loose in California as residents were burned out of their homes, neighborhoods and businesses, Gov. Jerry Brown was jetting around the world spouting climate change propaganda, and calling this California’s ‘new normal.’
“With climate change, some scientists are saying Southern California is literally burning up, and burning up as maybe a metaphor or a description not just to the fires right here, but what we can expect over the next years and decades,” Brown said.
Today, as California burns once again under torrential wildfires, many Californians have been asking why the dramatic increase in wildfires in the last five years… that is everyone except Governor Jerry Brown. Governor Brown claims that year-round, devastating fires are the “new normal” we must accept.
Megan Barth and I reported Monday:
“Supporting Obama-era regulations have resulted in the new normal: an endless and devastating fire season. Obama-era regulations introduced excessive layers of bureaucracy that blocked proper forest management and increased environmentalist litigation and costs– a result of far too many radical environmentalists, bureaucrats, Leftist politicians and judicial activists who would rather let forests burn, than let anyone thin out overgrown trees or let professional loggers harvest usable timber left from beetle infestation, or selectively cut timber.”
Mismanaged, overcrowded forests provide fuel to historic California wildfires, experts say. The 129 million dead trees throughout California’s forests are serving as matchsticks and kindling.
Jerry Brown, busy mulling ways to prevent the end of the world, took the Clinton and Obama-era gross regulations a step even further when he vetoed a bipartisan wildfire management bill in 2016.
At the request of the City Council of Laguna Beach, Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa), authored SB 1463 in 2016, a bipartisan bill which would have given local governments more say in fire-prevention efforts through the Public Utilities Commission proceeding making maps of fire hazard areas around utility lines.
Laguna Beach went through four fires sparked by utility lines in the last ten years, and has done as much in the way of prevention as they could afford.
The bill would have allowed cities to work with utilities to underground utility lines, and work with the Public Utilities Commission to develop updated fire maps by requiring the PUC to take into consideration areas in which communities are at risk from the consequences of wildfire — not just those areas where certain environmental hazards are present.
Moorlach’s bill came about when on February 2, 2016, the PUC served the final version of Fire Map 1, and the City of Laguna Beach was not placed within the low-risk margins of the Utility Fire Threat Index.
Gov. Brown vetoed SB 1463, despite being passed by the Legislature, 75-0 in the Assembly and 39-0 in the Senate. That tells you this was political.
The Governor’s veto message did not properly address why he vetoed the bill. Brown claimed that the PUC and CalFire have already been doing what Moorlach’s bill sought to accomplish. How on earth could Brown kill this bill when the state was burning down?
“SB 1463 would have not only safeguarded Laguna and other high fire-risk communities in Orange County, but would have helped other vulnerable communities throughout the state that are often threatened by wildfires caused by sparks from shorted or fallen utility lines,” Sen. Moorlach said in a statement following the surprise veto.
“The Governor’s veto impedes the necessity to more urgently address the California Public Utilities Commission’s focus on identifying high risk areas that should be prioritized for appropriate mitigation measures.”
California fires produced as much pollution in 2 days as all the state’s cars do in a year.
After SB 1463 was killed by Gov. Brown, Sen. Moorlach and his brilliant staff had an epiphany: Redirect the state’s accumulated cap-and-trade funds into wildfire prevention.
Authored in 2018, the new Senate Bill 1463, aptly named “Cap and Trees,” would continuously appropriate 25 percent of state cap-and-trade funds to counties to harden the state’s utility infrastructure and better manage wildlands and our overgrown and drought-weakened forests, Moorlach recently wrotein a San Francisco Chronicle op ed.
The idea was to actually reduce the state’s highest source of greenhouse gas emissions, curb the impacts of future wildfires and prevent unnecessary damage to life and property, the new SB 1463 fact sheet reported.
However, SB 1463 was killed in the radical Senate Environmental Quality Committee by Democrats, even though there was no opposition to it. The killing was purely political, with no regard given to the people of the state.
Cap and Trade was a scheme born out of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, known as AB 32, which charged the California Air Resources Board with lowering greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. In addition, AB 32 requires the ARB to inventory GHG emissions in California, and approve statewide GHG emissions limits.
As important, Sen. Moorlach’s second version of SB 1463 would also have required the California Air Resources Board to include greenhouse gas emissions from wildland and forest fires in their updated Scoping Plan. The ARB does not actually track GHGs – they just estimate. The ARB is extorting millions of dollars from California businesses on their best guesses.
It is estimated that “for every 2 to 3 days these wildfires burn, GHG emissions are roughly equal to the annual emissions from every car in the entire state of California,” USA Today/Reno Gazette reported in 2017. Last year, there were more than 9,000 major wildfires which burned over 1.2 million acres. Several of the large fires were caused or exacerbated by sparking utility lines.
The problem is that the Air Resources Board Scoping Plan ignores the most egregious of all GHG emission problems – manmade wildfires. Instead, the ARB spends a substantial amount of cap and trade funds on high-speed rail, which literally increases GHG emissions and eliminates large carbon sinks. The ARB has a history of diverting funds to pet projects and programs that have little or nothing to do with actually reducing GHG emissions.
The Senate Environmental Quality Committee, responsible for killing Moorlach’s SB 1463, has a radical environmentalist/preservationist as the committee consultant. In the only bill analysis done on SB 1463, this is the drivel she wrote:
“…natural disasters that emit GHGs (such as wildfires) occurred before climate change, will continue to occur as the climate continues to change, and will persist even if mankind ultimately solves the problem of climate change.”
“While science can now conclusively attribute individual extreme events to climate change, it is important to distinguish that extreme events like the recent wildfires in California are a symptom of climate change, not the cause.”
“The overwhelming consensus of climate scientists is that climate change is anthropogenic, meaning human activity has caused the rising GHG concentrations in the atmosphere and, therefore, increasing average global temperatures and the extreme events climate change causes.”
“To include GHG emissions from natural disasters in the state’s inventory that tracks progress towards California’s climate goals, even ones that are made worse by climate change, betrays the fundamental scientific understanding that human activity is responsible for climate change.” (Her emphasis, not mine) 04/19/18- Senate Environmental Quality
Jerry Brown’s Exploitation of California Events
“There is no hope for the truth when world leaders like Governor Brown of California (he runs the 19th largest economy in the world) can present such utterly false information in pursuit of a political agenda,” Dr. Tim Ball wrote about Brown’s recent screed on the fires:
“Since civilization emerged 10,000 years ago, we haven’t had this kind of heat condition, and it’s going to continue getting worse and that’s the way it is.” — Jerry Brown
“Civilization began more than 10,000 years ago and, in my opinion, it hasn’t reached California yet,” Dr. Ball added in a guest opinion at Watts Up With That, an outstanding website dedicated to actual science (no emotions) about global warming and climate change.
In his introductory climatology class, Dr. Ball tells his students to “watch for a sequence of events from California. This will begin with complaints about drought and threatened water supplies. In the Fall, we will have stories about fires decimating the landscape and burning up communities. The next in the sequence is rain and mudslides. Welcome to sunny southern California. I don’t recall a year in which that sequence did not occur. The only differences were the intensity of the events, the hysteria of the media and the degree of political exploitation.”
Dr. Ball concluded: “Exploitation of the California events is just another example of the standard ploy of environmentalists to take normal events and present them as abnormal.”
Jerry Brown’s Real Legacy
Remember when Gov. Jerry Brown said the world needs ‘brain washing’ on climate change. Sounding indeed brainwashed, Brown said, “The problem … is us. It’s our whole way of life. It’s our comfort … It’s the greed. It’s the indulgence. It’s the pattern. And it’s the inertia.”
Brown screeched in 2015 that California has an overpopulation problem, and the ongoing drought was proof that the explosion of population in California has reached the limit of what the states’ resources can provide. “We are altering this planet with this incredible power of science, technology and economic advance,” Brown told the publisher of the Los Angeles Times. “If California is going to have 50 million people, they’re not going to live the same way the native people lived, much less the way people do today.… You have to find a more elegant way of relating to material things. You have to use them with greater sensitivity and sophistication.”
Brown has managed to divert the fawning, slobbering California media away from his actual responsibilities as California Governor, and instead has them focused on hysteria, doom, gloom, and intangibles like “climate change.”
Ideally, to pick the best revolver for your daily carry or backup, you’d want to do a lot of shooting with everyone you could get your hands on. I mean thousands of rounds in all kinds of conditions. The downside to that is that it would take an L-O-N-G time! Turns out that getting old means that I’ve had a long time to do just that.
I’ve been a revolver guy for 50 years. I firmly believe in their superior reliability when it comes to life and death situations. To paraphrase FedEx, when it absolutely, positively has to go bang, go with a revolver. It’s easy to deny that when you’re considering what to carry in the abstract, but when you’re deep in the shit, it gets much simpler. In 50 years of shooting, hunting, and competing, I’ve had at least one malfunction with every semi-automatic pistol I’ve owned. Some a lot more than others. I’ve only had one malfunction out of all the revolvers I’ve owned. And that was in a gun that I intentionally tried to make malfunction by continuously firing it without cleaning just to see if I could. It took a lot of rounds, hundreds, but eventually, the cylinder had so much fouling in it that one round failed to seat all the way, locking up the cylinder. Other than that, a revolver has never let me down.
I carried my first revolver when I flew helicopter gunships in Vietnam: a Colt six-shooter. It was tolerant of the dusty conditions we worked in, simple to operate, and could easily be run with only one hand. (Remember, when you get in an escape and evade situation flying helicopters, it means you crashed! All your parts might not be working.) Of course, I always carried an M3A1 submachine gun, commonly called a Grease Gun, as my primary beat feet weapon. My sidearm was a last-ditch, gotta work backup. If you need more information about the benefits of carrying a revolver, check out Clay Martin’s video. It’s excellent information, and it’s from a pistol guy, believe it or not, who really knows what he’s talking about.
So let’s jump right into it. These are my three go-to revolvers for concealed carry:
Smith & Wesson model 649
This is the Model 638 that is a variation of the Model 38 Bodyguard. It weighs merely 14.4 ounces versus the Model 649 that weighs in at 22.2 ounces.
The S&W J-frame is the biggest selling small revolver for good reasons. Aside from the quality they put into every one, they got the size right for concealment, are sturdy and reliable, and surprisingly accurate for such a short barrel. They can handle across the room distances and more without breaking a sweat. Oh, but it only carries 5 rounds. Yeah? Well that’s a trade-off for conceal-ability. If you’re in the military or law enforcement, that’s not enough for your primary weapon. But in civilian gun fights the average is 3 rounds in 3 seconds. So you’ve got two extra rounds just-in-case. Sweet.
Out of all the fine J-frames Smith offers, my favorite is the somewhat ugly Model 649. (I don’t think it’s ugly but some do.) The 649 started life as the original Bodyguard way back in the ’50s. It was designed with a lot of input from law enforcement and upgraded over the years to cater to the evolving needs of the police. The frame grew slightly in 1996 with the introduction of the .357 magnum version and all subsequent J-frames are built on the magnum frame.
First, the 649 is all stainless steel. A good option for a gun carried close to the body. Also, the added weight makes it softer shooting and maintenance is a breeze.
Here is the S&W Model 649. It features a stainless steel frame, barrel and cylinder. It also features an enclosed hammer that helps mitigate the concern of it getting snagged on the draw.
Second, it has a slightly longer barrel than other J-frames at 2 1/8 inches. Remember that revolver barrels are measured from in front of the cylinder and don’t include the chamber. To compare this to a pistol you have to add the length of the cylinder (chamber). In the 649, this makes the comparable barrel length the same as a 3 5/8-inch barreled pistol.
Third, the 649 has a full sized grip. You might prefer a smaller grip but my preference for a handle I can get three fingers around comes from the fact that I can shoot more accurately with a bigger grip. In my mind accuracy is second only to dependability. Remember, it’s your life on the line. I’m also less likely to drop it on the draw, a situation which rarely ends well. It also makes it easier to shoot magnum rounds should you decide to go that route.
Fourth, the 649 has that great S&W trigger: a smooth 11 pounds in double action. A crisp 3 pounds 1 ounce in a single action.
Which brings us to that ugly hump on its back. For a strictly up close and personal self-defense gun, single action only (SAO) is fine. However, there are some instances when you might want to draw the hammer back manually to take advantage of the added accuracy of firing single action. The problem with an external hammer is that it can get snagged on the draw, or, if you’re shooting from inside a pocket, you might get material from your jacket between the hammer and firing pin, especially in a struggle. Smith & Wesson ingeniously solved both those problems by completely enclosing the hammer except for a groove presenting the very tip of the hammer spur. An added benefit of the “hump” is that it adds stability to the gun in your pocket.
This is a top view of the Model 649 with the hammer drawn back.
As far as your ammo choices, if you’re in law enforcement and may have to shoot through windshields and engine blocks, it handles .357 magnum all day long. However, for civilians, the .38+P has plenty of power. That’s what I carry when I’m in town. However, when I’m in the woods in bear country, I load up with a .357 magnum bear load like the 180 grain lead round nose flat points from Buffalo Bore and HSM. Best case, I’d rather be carrying a .44 mag for those situations, but when I’m traveling light, I’m comfortable with the .357 Mag. bear loads.
After lots of experimenting, I ended up with the configuration you see here. I replaced the front sight blade with a red light pipe for better visibility during the day. For low light situations I added the Crimson Trace laser grips . When you take your grip, your middle finger covers the on button and the laser comes on without even thinking about it. I’ve found the laser to provide greater accuracy indoors and at night. It’s also a terrific training aid.
At 22.2 ounces empty, the 649 is comfortable to shoot. If you want to go ultralight, Smith & Wesson also makes it with an aluminum alloy frame (14.6 ounces) in .38+P as a Model 638. MSRP is $729 for the 649 and $469 for the 638. There’s also a good chance of picking up used models for a lot less.
Ruger Light Compact Revolver (LCR)
The LCR takes us from the old school Smith & Wesson Model 649 to the state-of-the art in modern snubbies. My gun is the Model 5456 in 9mm. I wanted a backup for when I was carrying a 9mm pistol. What I found was that this gun is a fine primary carry gun for normal everyday use. The 9mm is a great self-defense round in its own right. And I found I like the moon clips that came with the revolver. As you know, reloading a revolver is not as quick as switching magazines in a pistol. But carrying a loaded moon clip makes it almost as fast. It’s sure quicker than using a speed loader. By-the-way, you can always load rounds without the moon clip in a pinch since the 9mm headspaces on the case. The only problem would be ejecting the spent cases since the ejector star works on the moon clip.
Ruger combined a number of modern features to upgrade the typical snub nose revolver. The stainless steel cylinder is highly fluted to reduce weight. It also gives it an all business look. The cylinder and barrel are housed in a stainless steel frame, and the frame is mated to a polymer grip frame and trigger guard. Altogether this results in a lightweight gun, 17.2 ounces empty. Ruger also claims the polymer results in a softer shooting gun. It’s hard to judge that without having the same gun in all metal to compare it to. Makes sense though.
On the inside, Ruger employed a cammed action which works well to make the DAO trigger stroke smooth and non-stacking. It’s lighter than the 649 trigger at 9 pounds, 10 ounces, and feels even lighter.
The stock grip is a short Hogue Tamer Monogrip. It’s a perfectly workable grip but I replaced it with a longer Pachmayr Diamond Pro Grip for enhanced control and comfort. The only other change I made was to replace the front blade with an XS Sight Systems standard dot tritium night sight. They include everything you need to switch out the sights and it’s a nice bright sight. I tried a laser that fits in front of the trigger guard but ended up removing it. You had to manually turn it on, unlike the Crimson Trace on my 649, and I do fine just using the tritium sight. The MSRP is $669.
Kimber K6s
Kimber is known for building quality pistols so when they came out with their first revolver I had to give it a try. The drawing card was that it housed 6 rounds in a package about the same size as a J-frame. In fact, I use the same holsters for all three of these guns. While one more round might not sound like much of an advantage, frame it as a 20% increase in firepower and it sounds much more impressive. Either way, if you find yourself in a situation where you really need one more round, it’s priceless.
True to their reputation, the Kimber K6s is a quality product. It has a beautiful satin polished finish, replaceable front and rear sights, modern looking lines, and the rims of the cartridges are recessed flush with the back of the cylinder.
Speaking of the cylinder, to get 6 rounds into a cylinder not much bigger than a J-frame, they put the rounds closer together. To preserve the strength of the cylinder, they weren’t able to use flutes like the S&W and Ruger. Instead they used flats between the chambers. But, because there is an even number of chambers in the Kimber, when the cylinder is in battery, there’s a flat on each side. That means that the narrowest dimension of the cylinder is presented side-to-side. With five round cylinders, when the gun’s in battery, the widest parts of the cylinder are exposed on both sides. So although the cylinder is slightly bigger than a J-frame, when carrying, it feels about the same.
Weight wise, the Kimber is also only slightly more than the S&W 649: 23 ounces empty versus 22.2 for the Smith. Eight-tenths of an ounce is a small price to pay for 20% more firepower (even if it is only one more round). Like with the Model 649, the weight makes for a softer shooting gun and it’s still a good weight for all day carry. Unfortunately, if you want a lighter revolver, this is all Kimber has. On the other hand, you won’t find a lighter six-round revolver from anyone else.
The K6s has the shorter two finger grip. So far I haven’t had a problem with control or accuracy despite my preference for full-sized grips. Firing .357 Magnum rounds is a little more challenging though. I haven’t found longer grips for it although I’m sure the major grip manufacturers will step up when there are enough K6s sold to warrant the tooling.
The trigger is similar to the S&W 649 trigger. It’s actually slightly lighter than the S&W although objectively it doesn’t feel lighter (10 pounds, 10 ounces, versus 11 pounds). You aren’t usually concerned with staging your trigger when you need to present from the holster, but the Kimber trigger is easier to stage should that be of interest to you.
The only drawback I’ve found is that the all black sights are hard to pick out from a dark background. I have an early example and Kimber has since addressed this issue. The guns shipping now come with a three dot sight system. They’ve also switched from the blue grip panels to black although that’s purely cosmetic.
MSRP is $899 with street prices slightly less. Although that’s more than the two guns above, I think it’s still a good value. Especially considering the extra round of ammunition. Crimson Trace recently came out with the LG-950 Master Series Lasergrips for the Kimber. They’re already on my wish list.
Summary
Like you I love to shoot and I’m always trying new guns looking for that perfect travel companion. Every once in a while I have to sell some of them to buy more. But I can tell you with certainty that I have no intention of selling the three pictured here. They are all durable, easy to carry concealed, accurate, and with sufficient firepower to get me out of most binds. I don’t go looking for trouble and if I can avoid a gunfight by running, better not get in my way. But if I get backed into a corner, I’ll be very happy to have any one of these with me.
For more information about the Kimber K6s, click here.
For more information about the Ruger LCR, click here.
For more information about Smith & Wesson Model 649, click here.
To purchase a revolver on GunsAmerica, click here.