Front Sight, Press

An old cowboy went riding out one dark and windy day
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of red eyed cows he saw
A-plowing through the ragged sky and up the cloudy draw

the Ammunition Accountability Act is suddenly a legitimate threat. New York, Pennsylvania and 16 other states have already enacted legislation that would mandate the engraving of a unique serial number on the base of each handgun and “assault weapon” bullet, and an identical number on the cartridge’s case. The act calls for dealers of this “encoded ammunition” to record the purchaser’s name, birthdate, drivers license number, etc.

One of the Holy Grails of the gunny world is “stopping power”.
Arcane formulas combining bullet weight, velocity and diametre in various proportions are proposed, established, fretted over and adopted — or discarded — in search of a pistol/round combination that will “guarantee” that the user will emerge victorious in an armed confrontation. And choices once made are defended with religious fervor.

Remember how Obama said that he wasn’t going to take your guns? Well, it seems that his minions and allies in the anti-gun world have no problem with taking your ammo! The bill that is being pushed in 18 states (including Illinois and Indiana ) requires all ammunition to be encoded by the manufacture and recorded in a data base of all ammunition sales. So they will know how much you buy and what calibers. Nobody can sell any ammunition after June 30, 2009 unless the ammunition is coded.

Why “ballistics by the inch”? Well, just about forever people have wondered what kind of trade-off one made in choosing a gun with a short barrel - how much power were you giving up for convenience/concealability? There has been a lot of anecdotal information available - comparing this 2″ .38 to that 6″ .38, or a longslide .45 to an officer’s pistol with a shorter barrel - but there hasn’t been much in the way of consistent research made available to the average gun owner.

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.

In carrying an unlicensed handgun, Burress is in good company. New York City politicians, protected by phalanxes of taxpayer-funded guards and politically awarded permits to carry weapons, impose some of the toughest gun laws in the country on the people over whom they rule. Not surprisingly, many New Yorkers have chosen to acquire the means for self defense outside of official channels

Yesterday I offered a summary of the massacre in India. Then I discovered how what the Brady Bunch wants to do in the US would facilitate the same carnage that happened in India.

I never juggle drinks with one hand and fiddle with my pistol with the other. I use proper holsters, and I feel confident that I could carry a Glock successfully without blowing off an appendage. Nevertheless, I hear way too many “accidental discharge” stories about Glocks, many more than with other types of pistols. Is there something inherently dangerous about the Glock design, or are careless people drawn to Glocks?

As the Mumbia horror once again reminds us, gun-control laws are a disaster. They have no effect on murderers and terrorists. They do not prevent murderers and terrorists from acquiring weapons. They succeed in disarming innocent people, thereby preventing them from defending themselves from murderers and terrorists. And by the time the police get around to ending the threat, lots of innocent people have already died.