Front Sight, Press

A good one on ballistics from Joe Huffman:

I have worked with the mathematics of exterior ballistics for so long that I sometimes forget the general nature of the path of a rifle bullet to it’s target is not mind boggling obvious. I was reminded of this by an email I received today:

Need a answer: I was told that when shot a 30 cal. bullet goes up and makes an arc to the target, when held level. What happens, say at 100 yards.?

This email caused me to have a flashback to when I was in grade-school (yes Kris, firearms had been invented by the time I left grade-school).

When I was about the fourth grade a friend of mind, Verl (yeah, kids had strange names back in those days), insisted that the bullet would rise after it left the barrel of a rifle. I didn’t believe it and asked how long it took before it when into orbit (or some such thing that pointed out the absurdity of his claim). He didn’t know but asked his dad and came back to school and explained it went up for a while then came back down. My knowledge of and ability to articulate the physics of gravity and moving objects was limited and although I was profoundly unsatisfied with this explanation I couldn’t refute his assertion that it was true.

Later I made sense of it and eventually I wrote a computer programs that accurately predicts the path of a bullet as it leaves the muzzle. I am now much more capable of articulating the physics and will now attempt do so.

Read the whole thing here

Another hit from Brigid:

Most of us remember our first love, but what about our first gun? I shot my first gun when I was just shy of 12. My parents were smart. Even out in the country, drugs were starting to pop up, and an occasional rural kids would get into grown up trouble early. Those of you with teenagers know what I am talking about. It’s hard being a young adult, the light weight of the few years you have seen are heavy enough to prevent you from taking off and flying free of a world that to you seemed too rigid and too ordered. But not weighty enough to keep your feet truly grounded in a life of solid choice and experienced judgment.

So, to give us something to learn and grow with, my parents gave us a gun. And taught us to use it. I remember that first gun. It was a single action "garden gun", one that found its way under many a Christmas tree in my generation. I held it, wood smooth under my hand, the sun at the quarry where we would shoot it shining off of the barrel. When I touched it, I felt an excitement of joy and promise whose reason I could not put into words at that age, being too young to articulate that. I felt responsible. Yes. Responsible. For something that cost most than many months allowance would ever replace. Responsible for the trust my parents put in me in handing over the legacy of guns in our house. Responsible for myself, my brothers. To use it properly…

Read the whole thing here

Two of the finest carry pistols yet designed, in my opinion are the Colt Defender and the Colt New Agent. That’s a pretty bold statement. Before I receive hate mail, let me explain that I am ruling out revolvers, which are not pistols. Let me also say that I believe the 1911 pistol is the finest fighting pistol ever designed. Quick, accurate, powerful. In a world of competing designs, almost a hundred years later, it remains the gold standard for the disciplined shooter, not the good enough gun for the lowest denominator.

Read the whole thing here

Every single day Martyn does a Second Amendment news wrap-up, providing links to blog and news articles with a brief commentary line. I don’t see how he does it, but he is a very consistent source of news and perspectives on the cause. I read him every day, and you should too.

The Liberty Sphere

Opinion and commentary on the news, human liberty, politics, gun rights, current events, and modern culture by D. Martyn Lloyd-Morgan, The Liberty Sphere.

From the Sipsey Street Irregulars:

Prosecutor Who Raised Questions About Waco Cover-Up Removed

By Michelle Mittelstadt
September 14, 1999
Associated Press

WASHINGTON–The federal prosecutor who raised questions about a possible Justice Department cover-up in the Waco standoff was abruptly removed from the case along with his boss, according to a court filing made public Tuesday.

Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder recused U.S. Attorney James W. Blagg in San Antonio and assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston in Waco, Texas, from any further dealings in criminal or civil proceedings related to the siege.

Read the whole thing here

The Crimes of Eric Holder from Jeff Knox:

• As a Federal Prosecutor, Holder refused to prosecute FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi or any of his superiors for the murder of Vicky Weaver at Ruby Ridge. 
• As Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno, Holder was in charge of defending and covering up for the government in the Waco Massacre. 
• Holder was the official in charge of the Elian Gonzales affair and ordered the pre-dawn SWAT raid to seize the 6-year old Cuban refugee from the home of relatives who had legal custody of the boy. 
• After the terrorist attacks of 9-11, in which the terrorists used box-knives and airplanes as their weapons, Holder called for new restrictions on firearms sales and transfers. 
• In the Heller case, Holder signed on to an amicus brief arguing in support of the DC gun ban and the “collective right” theory of the Second Amendment. 
• Holder has called for federal investigation of every firearm transfer – even between relatives – and the registration and licensing of all firearm and firearm owners.
• Holder has called for federal restrictions and controls on the internet and limits on internet speech and privacy as well.
• Holder handled Clinton’s pardon of a group of Puerto Rican terrorists who murdered a number of people in New York City as well as the pardon of billionaire tax evader Marc Rich (the man who created the petroleum “spot market” – the system which recently drove gas prices over $5.00 a gallon.)
• Holder has been an outspoken advocate of stricter gun control, greater government control, and more police powers – though he opposes the death penalty, supports closing down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, and opposes any kind of “harsh” interrogation techniques.

See also: The Wind at Mt. Carmel

One of the best archives of news stories on the Waco investigation and cover-up can be found at CSNUR

PDF of the Johnston letter to AG Reno

No Confidence: An Unofficial Account of the Waco Incident (PDF)

Holder “supervised” the DOJ cover-up in the Danforth Waco investigation

Topics: Stopping Power, 2008  Retrospective, If, DC Defies Supreme Court, Plaxico Burress, CCW in National Parks.

Blogs referenced in this podcast:

The Lawdog Files

God Is a Beer Drinker

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Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will — Justice William O. Douglas

Joe Huffman has some excellent coverage of the “gun fight” in Seattle over Mayor Nickels’ attempt to ban legal handguns from all city property and parks:

My name is Joe Huffman and I am from Kirkland.

I represent myself and my 22 year old daughter. We both have concealed pistol licenses and carry a pistol wherever we can legally do so.

I find it very telling the people providing the number of dollars spent and people injured do not tell us how many of those people were legally shot by the police or a private citizen defending innocent life. By this omission they imply guns are only used for evil.

I’m shocked that a city that prides itself on tolerance would engage in such Jim Crow like tactics to discriminate against gun owners. I’m certain the mayor and his staff cannot answer just one question which should have been their first step before going down this path. That question is, "Can you demonstrate one time or place, throughout all history, where the average person was made safer by restricting access to handheld weapons?"

With such clear guidance from the State Attorney General the mayor has a tremendous amount of gall to push forward with such an attack on an essential civic right. If his plan were to ban the presence of Christian crosses, the star of David, or burqa from city facilities there would be a public outcry that would be heard worldwide and calls would be made for his resignation if not his arrest. And the same outcry should be made for this encroachment upon a specific enumerated right guaranteed by both the Washington State Constitution and the U.S. Bill of Rights.

I’m not a lawyer but it appears to me that such egregious behavior warrants investigation by Federal Prosecutors into the possibility of prosecution under 18 USC 242, the statute covering the deprivation of rights under the color of law.

Read the whole thing here.

See also Video from Seattle firearm ban hearing

DC tightens gun rules after landmark court ruling

2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The District of Columbia Council passed more regulations for gun owners Tuesday, months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the city’s 32-year-old handgun ban.

Among other things, the bill requires gun owners to register their weapons every three years and receive training by a certified firearms instructor.

"This bill will be, I think, one of the most progressive registration laws in the country," Council member Phil Mendelson said.

The National Rifle Association accused the city of forcing residents to jump through unnecessary hurdles, thereby undermining the intent of the Supreme Court’s ruling in June that affirmed the right of Americans to keep guns in the home for self defense.

"The D.C. Council continues to try to make it harder and harder for law-abiding citizens to access this freedom," NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said…

…Tuesday’s bill builds on those regulations. It requires gun owners to spend at least one hour at the firing range and four hours in the classroom with an instructor before registration. The bill also requires a criminal background check for gun owners every six years.

Source: The Associated Press

This is a case study in how criminal bureaucrats break the law while pretending to uphold it. The D.C. Council is obviously defying the Supreme Court, and if our Justice Department had any stones, the entire D.C. Council would be indicted on civil rights violations.

And while we’re on the subject, this is what the Brady Campaign, the Obama Campaign, Mayor Bloomberg, and all of the other enemies of freedom mean when they say “sensible gun control” or “common sense gun control.” That is code for regulations on guns that are so complex, byzantine, and difficult to fulfill that only millionaires with stables of lawyers will be able to own firearms.

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can get going without pep pills,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when, no fault of yours, things go wrong,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him,

If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,

If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor, If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, or politics,

Then, my Brother, you are as good as your dog.

– Author unknown