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  • This Just In! There Is No National Gun Database!

    The Tennessean has just learned the shocking fact that there is no national gun database.  This news was so shocking to the paper, that it was on the front page of today’s newspaper.  Not the center spread, but above the fold.

    Of course, this being the purely non-biased pinnacle of reporting that is the local rag, they talked about how this hampers police departments because they have to ask the ATF to ask the manufacturer where it was initially sold, then follow the trail of bound books, yada yada yada.  Of course, there’s the usual jab to the NRA for helping stop the government from creating a database.  They did throw in a throw away line about how some lawmakers “feel that the act of amassing those records would in essence go a step toward creating an artificial registration system.”  Um… no.  That would essentially be a registry.

    By the way, my thoughts that there’s not database? “Good.”

    Hmmm… maybe now that the local newspaper has run this story, my mom will stop asking me if it’s expensive to register all my guns… probably not.

  • Full fledge police state coming to a town near you!

    It’s been tried in some of the big cities (most notably New York City), and now it’s happening in Arkansas.  The town of Paragould has decided that the best way to fight their recent uptick in crime is to start deploying cops in SWAT gear, checking your papers, and asking for a good reason for you to have the nerve to be walking the streets.

    According to Salon.com (I know, I know, but it was the first source a buddy of mine showed me), the town has cancelled two town meetings after the first one where this action was discussed due “public safety concerns,” and that the program was supposed to start sometime this month, but no one’s seen them wandering around.  The mayor may have wised up (or talked to a lawyer… any lawyer) and decided this was a bad idea, but it’s frightening that anyone in any place of power in the USA could possibly think that a wandering goon squad is a good idea and it didn’t get squashed until the public announcement.

    Of course, as that article points out, this sort of thing has actually happened in US cities before.  They cite when Fresno did it, and New York has the men in blue randomly frisking people (even though any charges keep getting thrown out for being unconstitutional).

  • *Now* did I jump the shark?

    Since my previous post about this rifle, I’ve added a couple of things:

    image

    PRI Gas Buster:
    image

    YHM Phantom Flash Hider:
    image

    Needed those, because I got this:
    image

    😀

    6 month wait this time, partially my own fault for not reading the directions (As it turns out, if you print the two-page Form 4 on two pages, ATF will reject it. Lesson learned.). Woulda been 5. Next on the list: .45 Osprey.

    I bought that can from DWH in a transaction that didn’t involve a dealer. It’s been featured on Oleg’s blog as well. He sold it because he wants a titanium model instead of the heavy stainless steel.

    I completely understand. My AR now weighs twelve pounds fully loaded with the can on it. After I get the Osprey, I’ll move to getting something like a Gemtech Halo and move this one to a bolt gun.

  • I don’t think that word means what you think it means

    Non-partisan:

    Protests across the country called for thousands to march, all to push for tougher legislation when it comes to buying a gun. With a simple post online, a crowd of concerned parents, grandparents and kids showed up Saturday morning to march at Sevier Park to push for changes in gun legislation.

    This march is part of the non-partisan One Million Moms for Gun Control march in Washington, D.C.

    I don’t know about you, but when a protest is highlighted by former democrat appointees and Commie Day protestors, “non-partisan” is the last thing that comes to mind.

  • Don’t Use Quicken [UPDATE: Or TurboTax]

    Intuit, the company that makes Quicken, QuickBooks, and several other pieces of financial software* has decided that guns are icky and they want no part of them.

    Give them what they want. Use something else.

    Update: Linoge reminds me in the comments that they also make TurboTax. Might I suggest some H&R Block Tax Software instead? My taxes are generally more complicated than the average person, so I have an accountant do mine.

    *They also have a mortgage unit and a web hosting company.

  • More Bills Filed in TN

    The first wave I listed here

    Here is the second wave:

    HB 0035 by *Parkinson: As introduced, increases the punishment for a defendant convicted of a crime of violence with a deadly weapon, to receive no less than two times the original sentence imposed upon the defendant.

    HB 0036 by *Parkinson: As introduced, declares that any person convicted for the unlawful sale, gift or loan of a firearm to a minor or intoxicated person be punished as criminally responsible for any resulting crime; requires the person serve all the time sentenced without parole.

    I’m going to break here and comment on those two. I think Parkinson (D-Memphis) is on track to become my second-favorite Democrat in the TN House. Hardaway is my favorite because of the epic crazy involved in his anti-gun antics. These two bills have no companion bill in the Senate, so they’re not going anywhere (yet). HB0035 is pretty much meaningless since the courts don’t impose any kind of sentence today that acts as a deterrent. HB0036 covers something that is already illegal, but creates a situation where the person who provided the firearm to the kid that robbed a convenience store serves a whole lot more time than the person that actually committed the crime.

    These have little chance of becoming law. My only objection to them is that they make something already illegal a little bit illegaler.

    SB 0076 by *Campfield:As introduced, limits to 15 the number of handgun carry permit records that can be reproduced in a single day; authorizes receipt of compilation of handgun carry permit records if such compilation will not be published.

    SB 0077 by *Campfield: As introduced, allows certain persons employed by a local education agency as a faculty or staff member at a K-12 school to possess and carry a firearm.

    Those are Stacey Campfield’s, with no companion in the House. The first one appears to be a compromise version of the bill he’s carried every year to seal Handgun Carry Permit records in order to stop The Commercial Appeal from publishing the database. Again.

    The second bill I swear will be called “Guns for Kindergartners” bill by the press, but if you read the text it’s very limiting. The only folks that would be able to carry at schools would be people who work full-time at the school. They would also have to have a carry permit, AND undergo the same training that School Resource Officers go through (40 hours initial, 16 hours annual) AND the school would have to not have a School Resource Officer assigned to it.

    Even after all that, the school system can still elect to prohibit carry. However:

    Any local education agency that prohibits persons from
    possessing and carrying a handgun pursuant to subdivision (f)(2)(A) shall be civilly liable for any damages, personal injury or death that results from a criminal act by any person not authorized to be in the school in which the prohibition was in effect.

    That’s something I’ve proposed (even to Campfield, personally) for posted properties. This is a step in the right direction, even if the rest of the bill is kinda crappy.

    But here is the big one:

    HB 0042 by *Carr J: As introduced, prohibits the enforcement and prosecution of certain federal law implemented or executed on or after January 1, 2013, concerning certain firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition.

    Read the text of that bill. It has a companion bill in the Senate, so there is some support in the upper chamber. When the summary says “prohibits” it doesn’t mean “provides no funding.” (That’s in HB 0010) It means “makes it a crime for ATF, FBI, DEA, DOJ to try to arrest a Tennessean for violations of a gun control statute.” That’s a pretty big deal. Unlike the Tennessee Firearms Freedom act, this one has teeth. It also requires the state to defend any citizen charged by the Feds.

    This one has been all over talk radio. I don’t think it will pass, nor do I think Haslam would sign it, but I’ve been known to be wrong.

  • I have to admit that that’s dead sexy

    Ok, so some of you may not know my typical stance on taking old battle rifles and slapping after-market stocks on them.  I’m not a fan.  I’m not a fan to the extent that I bought an Ishipore Enfield off of Wizard in large part because he was planning on doing terrible and horrible things to it and completely bubba’fying it.  Granted, I told him that if he wasn’t going to buy it when we spotted it at the gun show, I would, but I also told him I’d buy it off of him when he realized that it wasn’t what he wanted (I think there might have been some violence threatened if he cut into the stock).

    And yes, I typically have to grit my teeth and remind myself “it’s her rifle, she can do what she wants to with it,” and that there’s a zillion of them out there when I’m reminded what Erin has done to her Mosin-Nagant.  Yes, she’s made her rifle more comfortable, more accurate, and, to her, more fun to shoot, but… damnit…  It actually helps me that she’s written “Avada Kadavra!” one the side.  It’s kind of like saying “yes, I know this is ridiculous, but I’m doing it anyways.  Shut up!”

    Of course, there are exceptions.  Apparently specifically for the Mosin.  There’s the bullpup stock that Linoge picked up a while back and then sold off.  Then there’s apparently a new stock coming from the Archangel folks.  I have to agree with Erin on this one.  It’s dead sexy.  I almost want to go buy a bargin bin 90/31 and get this stock.

    But no… I’m not changing my M39 anytime soon.

  • random thoughts

    Hung out with Wizard for a bit yesterday, and the topic of the idea that Taurus may try to buy the Freedom Group.

    Wizard: I’m pissed off that Taurus is buying the Freedom Group

    Me: Why?

    Wizard: It’s… like Ford buying Jaguar

    Me: um… That was probably the best move for Jag since Ford came in and told Jag that their cars needed to, uh, work.  Hell, even the Top Gear guys* have admitted that Ford did a good job with that.

    Wizard: Ok… bad example.

    *The Top Gear guys are well known for hating the American car industry.

  • A note to the pundits

    I’m seeing a lot of right-leaning media folks saying things like “none of these gun control proposals from President Obama would have stopped the Sandy Hook shooting.”

    This is a fundamental misunderstanding of how anti-gun folks work.

    Sandy Hook wasn’t a reason for gun control. It was the excuse they have been looking for for a very long time.

    All these proposals come up every time there is a high profile shooting (usually by someone who wasn’t allowed to own a gun in the first place and in a location where guns aren’t allowed and only stops when a good guy with a gun shows up). None of this stuff is new. None of it will actually do anything to stop mass shootings.

    It’s not about the guns, it’s about the control.

  • They must have some expensive dirt!

    So, I just got an email from Cheaper Than Dirt saying that they now have some high capacity mags in, and I should buy them now!

    Out of curiosity, I followed a couple links.
    Magpul 30 round AR mags? sold out.
    Colt USGI issue 30 round AR mags? $129.97!!!
    Beta mags? The low low price of $699.97!
    AK-47 mags? $79.97

    Makes me glad I’m not in the market for any.