Front Sight, Press

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study on human lead levels of hunters in North Dakota has confirmed what hunters throughout the world have known for hundreds of years, that consuming game harvested with traditional ammunition poses absolutely no health risk to people, including children, and that the call to ban lead ammunition was and remains a scare tactic being pushed by anti-hunting groups to forward their political agenda.

Today, additional information became available about the CDC study, originally released yesterday, that is important to disseminate to hunters, their families and the general public about the total and complete lack of any evidence of a human health risk from consuming game harvested using traditional ammunition. For instance, in the study the average lead level of the hunters tested was lower than that of the average American.

In the CDC’s study, children’s lead levels had a mean of just 0.88 micrograms per deciliter, which is less than half the national average for children and an infinitesimally small fraction of the level that the CDC considers to be of concern for children (10 micrograms per deciliter). Yet, despite the total and complete lack of any evidence from this study of the existence of a human health risk, the Department of Health nevertheless urges that children under 6 and pregnant women not eat venison harvested using traditional ammunition. The North Dakota Department of Health’s recommendation is based on a "zero tolerance" approach to the issue of blood lead levels that is not supported by science or the CDC’s guidelines.

To further put in perspective the claims concerning the safety of game harvested using traditional ammunition, consider this statement from the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) — a state agency that has conducted an extensive panel of blood-lead testing for more than 15 years: "IDPH maintains that if lead in venison were a serious health risk, it would likely have surfaced within extensive blood-lead testing since 1992 with 500,000 youth under 6 and 25,000 adults having been screened." It has not.

Source: NSSF

Lori Davis remembers a time when the doors were always open at her church — and not guarded.

Relatives mourn after a gunman opened fire at a church meeting in Brookfield, Wisconsin, in 2005.

“No one thought twice about their safety. I guess we took it for granted,” said Davis.

But things have changed. In an era when terrorism threats and deadly shootings at schools and churches have made headlines, religious leaders are rethinking their security strategies. Last Saturday, a minister was fatally shot and another man wounded outside of a church in Kentucky where the men went to attend a funeral.

Such violence has houses of worship evolving from the days of walkie-talkies and video surveillance to armed guards, who keep a watchful eye over worship services and church.

“We live in a sinful world and people do crazy and irrational things,” said Davis, a member of the Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

Highview, like a number of other churches nationwide, has a volunteer security force consisting of at least one armed guard during any given worship service.

“I’m much more comfortable knowing they’re there if needed rather than just hoping for the best,” Davis said…

…Many Highview worshippers say they are comforted by the fact that there is a focus on security.

“There are no safe places anymore. Something could happen to me in church just as easily as at home or in the grocery store,” said Sheri Mock. “But I don’t worry, because I feel secure in church with the program they have.”…

…In states where people are allowed to carry concealed weapons, volunteers have become a cost-effective means of providing the security that some churches have come to rely on, Annis said…

…Jeff Petersen, a pastor at Lincoln Berean, said the church began considering armed security members after a gunman in Colorado last year killed four people and wounded five at two churches. In that case, a volunteer security officer with law enforcement experience fired on the gunman and stopped the attack, according to authorities. The gunman later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

“We want our people to know we care about their safety and we’re aware of the unfortunate possibilities, so it’s important for us to be proactive,” Petersen said. “We just felt like it would be the worst possible day in our church to be unprepared for that kind of thing.”…

Source: CNN

Xavier hits a home run with:

Looking at Conquest

It has happened. What Syd so succinctly dubbed the Electoral Apocalypse has occurred. Gun rights advocates lost in the 2008 election. What do we do now? Where do we go from here?

First, accept defeat with dignity and grace. We must do that. An individual or a group is not characterized in how they achieve victory, but rather in how they accept defeat. We were whooped. Our asses are on a silver platter in front of us. But we do not have to eat. We must determine how this happened and not allow it to happen again…

(and yes, he did quote me, but that’s not why I like the article)

Read the whole thing here

It’s a rare moment when you get to see real history playing out across the pixels of your television screen. This night was one. The junior senator from Illinois has accomplished the impossible, and the nation has moved into a new era. There are some good things about this, many of them emotional and psychological. Finally, our fellow Americans with dark skin have received the affirmation they have needed for a very long time. There’s nothing wrong with that. In the long run, it may make life better and healthier in our communities. Perhaps a large segment of our young people will stop destroying themselves and begin to realize that there are good possibilities for their lives. It’s hard to feel bad about that.

The rest of the world will be shocked and forced to reassess their ideas about America. Our friends will marvel. Our enemies will be forced to pause and consider the frightening agility of our culture.

I can’t help but believe that the genius of America has shown itself again: we have done the unexpected. Our democracy has surprised us. Our crazy angels have carried the day.

I’m not wild about Obama. I wasn’t wild about McCain either. Obama has set the expectations very high, and if history is any measure, such messianic hopes as those inspired by Obama are doomed to disappointment. I remember the campaign of Bill Clinton and all of the lofty promises he made. I also remember how few of those promises were fulfilled. I notice that the pundits are already drawing comparisons between Clinton and Obama, and promising that Obama isn’t going to make the same "mistakes" that Clinton did. But, when you pin hopes as high as Obama has, disappointments are inevitable. How long before they set in, and a whole new generation of voters is cursed with the same cynicism that has infected us?

For this reason, I’m not totally petrified with fear of an Obama administration. There’s a huge gap between the hyperbolic rhetoric of a campaign and what gets done in the congress. I am certainly apprehensive about gun rights, but we survived Carter and Clinton, and I think we will survive Obama too.

I feel like I have a migraine coming on. This election thing has been going on for so long and I have been so focused on it, that my brain doesn’t seem to know what to do or how to turn itself off. Emptiness. I bought a new computer today. Tomorrow morning, I will drag myself out of bed and resume planning how I will migrate all of my software and files to a new box. I will be scanning the web for a sense of how things are going. I will do my work and all of the other ordinary things I did yesterday. Not much will be changed for me.

Thorough review by Phil at Gunner’s Journal:

I’ve always liked innovative  people and the companies they run. Cor-Bon certainly is one of those companies. I’ve used a lot of Cor-Bon ammo over the years and now there is even more reason to with the companies DPX ammo. One thing is sure they make a type of ammo for just about anyone and fits every nitch there is whether it’s hunting or self defense.

A couple of weeks ago I bought one of the German police Sig P6 pistols. While they were running the paperwork through I started looking at the ammo that was available in 9mm. My eyes caught the DPX box so I started reading the velocity of this 115 grn round. At 1295 fps it’s a screamer as are most Cor-Bon loads. What peaked my interest when I opened the box was the huge cavity hollow-point. I’ve never seen a hollow-point that large or deep. Combine that speed with the solid copper Barnes bullet and the large cavity and you have potential for a very effective defense or duty round.

Read the whole thing here.

Brigid is hitting on all cylinders:

…In my job I’m at war with death. Collateral damage is inevitable. Sometimes in the midst of it I wonder why I fight at all. I do my part, but amidst the smoking losses, innocents gone, I have realized, reluctantly, that sometimes another’s life is not ours to save. Sometimes we have to let it slip quietly over the vale. And walk away…

…Perhaps why that is why I believe so strongly in the Second Amendment, a part of the U.S. Constitution that someone who could be elected as Commander in Chief is on record stating they wish to see it taken away from us. Was it not the rights of those that planted these lands, and their fathers before them, to carry arms to protect and preserve these plots of ground? Ground that they labored until death to maintain and preserve for the next generation. The land is precious, as is the fruits of our hard work. As I walk through the woods, I rest my hand on the wood that makes up the grip of my weapon, feeling the cold power of its strength, that in turn flows through my arm, emboldening my step. I walk boldly, a woman alone in a vacant forest, knowing well that my gun should not be needed but for the day a politician tries to take it from me.
As I turn to head back to home, the words of Benjamin Franklin come to me.

God Grant that not only the Love of Liberty, but a thorough Knowledge of the Rights of Man, may pervade all the Nations of the Earth, so that a Philosopher may set his foot anywhere on its Surface, and say, "This is my Country."…

Read the whole thing here.

Podcast topics: Obama supports federal ban on concealed carry, including the audio from 2004 in which he says this. The Westfield Sportsmans’s Club accident, problem guns: Ruger LCP and Mossber ATR 100 30-06. Teaching Kids to shoot. Tuesday is election day. Go out and vote, dammit.

Special guest appearances by Alex, The Joker, Fox Mulder, Han Solo, Beetlejuice, and the Ghost Busters.

Click on the little arrow to listen in your browser or go here to subscribe with Itunes

There is nothing funny about this, but it illustrates something important:

Girl, 7, Dies From Golf-Ball Injury

Friday, October 31, 2008

THIBODAUX, La. —  A Thibodaux girl has died two weeks after being hit in the head by a golf ball while playing outside her home.

Claire Gauthreaux says her granddaughter, 7-year-old Casey Gauthreaux, was in the yard at the family’s home in Thibodaux when the accident occurred.

The ball was hit by Casey’s older brother, 14-year-old Andrew, an avid golfer.

The Oct. 12 injury was unintentional.

Casey died Sunday. Her funeral was Wednesday.

Source: Fox News

This tragic incident is what is called an “accident.” It is legally recognized as a class of event that is different from volitional crime, negligence or even depraved indifference. It is one of the heartbreaking manifestations of chaos which occur from time to time to visit grief and suffering on humankind. It is also of the same order of event that took the life of an 8-year-old boy at the Westfield Sportsman’s Club in Westfield, MA. The boy lost control of an Uzi he was firing and shot himself. (I wouldn’t have allowed him to shoot the gun, and I question the judgment of the adults involved, but that is a different issue.) It was an accident, and both incidents have approximately the same level of probability – extremely low. We will probably all live out the rest of our lifetimes without either of these events repeating themselves.

Of course, there will be no calls to ban golf clubs, or restrict the playing of golf to those 21 years of age or older. There will be no nasty diatribes on “The Golf Guys” about the pathology of the Golf Culture. Perhaps Casey Gauthreaux would be alive today if access to golf balls were tightly restricted, but just read those words again and listen to how absurd they sound. This summer, a high school football player in our town collapsed of heat exhaustion and died two days later. There were no calls to end football. Yet, when a gun is involved in an accident, the vampires at the Brady Campaign and the Joyce Foundation immediately exploit these tragedies to push their agenda. It strikes me as reprehensible.

Life is a risky proposition. There is no guarantee of safety. There never was and there never will be. Sometimes things happen which end our lives before they should be ended. It can happen at a sportsman’s club, a city street, a football field or your own back yard.

By the Ol’ Grey Ghost on A Keyboard and a .45

We often hear these days from people on both sides of the gun control issue that they are all in favor of "reasonable" gun control measures but each accuses the other side of being unreasonable by the positions they take. Is the "reasonable" gun control law a lot like Sasquatch, Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster - some sketchy evidence but no real proof of its existence? Let’s take a moment and explore the situation once more.

Is a complete ban on the ownership of firearms "reasonable?" I have often joked that I would agree to a complete destruction of all guns and ammunition if everyone took everything they had and threw them into a volcano somewhere. The problem is I know humans and human nature and somebody somewhere would hold out and keep his guns because he thinks I am so I choose to hold onto mine in case he does (did I lose you?). When our benevolent government officials talk about a total ban, they are not being truthful because they make the exception for government employees to keep their’s. In a land where no one owns a firearm, the man who does is king and can very easily become a ruthless tyrant. The best way to keep these persons in check is that all the people are armed and prepared to defend themselves. "But a police officer’s/soldier’s job is dangerous and that’s why they need their firearms." I won’t dispute that and will not bar them from access to the weapons they need to protect themselves but the reason their jobs are dangerous is because life is dangerous and if anyone hasn’t noticed, I’m just as much alive as the average police officer/soldier and have just as much a right to protect my life, too…

Read the whole thing here

Rifle maker bounces boss who announced Obama support

By Ken Dilanian, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Montana gunsmith Dan Cooper has been ousted as chief executive of the rifle company that bears his name after pressure from gun owners who are angry that he is supporting Democrat Barack Obama.

Cooper, founder and part owner of Cooper Firearms, told USA TODAY in a story published Tuesday that he has voted for Republicans for most of his life, but he is backing Obama "probably because of the war. And also because the Republican Party has moved so far right in recent years." Cooper said he was attracted to the Democrat’s message about "the retooling of America, which involves the building of middle-class jobs and helping American small business be competitive with those overseas."

Cooper contributed $3,300 to Obama’s presidential campaign, according to election records complied by the non-partisan CQ MoneyLine.

The USA TODAY article sparked outrage from some gun owners and bloggers, including an open letter on a blog called Firearms and Freedom, urging people to boycott the company’s products. Many gun enthusiasts believe Obama will try to restrict their right to bear arms, although he has said he respects the Second Amendment…

…The company posted a statement Wednesday night on its website that said:

"The employees, shareholders and board of directors of Cooper Firearms of Montana do not share the personal political views of Dan Cooper. Although we all believe everyone has a right to vote and donate as they see fit, it has become apparent that the fallout may affect more than just Mr. Cooper. It may also affect the employees and the shareholders of Cooper Firearms. The board of directors has asked Mr. Cooper to resign as President."…

…"It’s a really McCarthyism at its worst," said Bob Ricker, executive director of the American Hunters and Shooters Association, which has endorsed Obama. "That’s really why our organization was formed, was to deal with this craziness. If you’re a gun owner, but you have a contrary view to some of these wackos, they will go out and try to destroy you."

…Some gun websites had posted the company’s e-mail address and telephone number, encouraging gun owners to boycott the company and contact its top executives.

"This needs to get around," wrote a blogger who calls himself "Sebastian, a thirty something, self professed ‘gun nut’ living somewhere in Pennsylvania." He added: "Gun owners need to know which companies sell their interests down the river. Here’s contact info for Cooper Firearms. I would talk to them, and be sure they know Obama’s record, why you’re not voting for him, and why you’ll never buy one of their products."

The company said in a statement to USA TODAY that it had received more than a thousand emails over the controversy…

"It’s very simple supporting the second amendment is like being pregnant. Either you do or you don’t,," said Jim Shepherd, who publishes the Outdoor Wire and other newsletters. "Is it right? It just is. It’s the way it works. It’s absolutism. Dan Cooper laughed at his customers. If that company does not take Cooper out of its name, they’re dead."

Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association, said the Cooper Firearms controversy is "an indication of how voters and gun owners feel about Barack Obama. He has a lifetime record of opposing their rights."

Source: USA Today