Snowflakes in Hell

Gunpundit has an example of what other countries are doing to gun owners.   Look at the firearms laid out in the path of the steam roller.   Do they look like guns that were seized from rebel groups?  Or do they look like ordinary household guns that might be used to take game, and defend families?

Color me skeptical about this one.  A sawed off shotgun I can believe, since all it takes to get one of those is a regular shotgun and a hacksaw. But an RPG?  We’ve seen this in the media before, and bloggers were able to identify it as an inert tube.  It’s possible, I suppose, that someone had an RPG, but I’m guessing this is another case of some kind of munition looking thing that’s inert.

Bensalem is the next township over from me, but upon cleaning out my attic this weekend from previous owners crap, I didn’t find any fun toys like this.  Bummer.  But had I found an RPG, I would not have endangered any police or first responders.  No, definitely not.  I’m sure I could have found a cooperative junk yard owner, preferably in a secluded area, where such ordnance could be safely and properly disposed of, without endangering anything except perhaps a late model Chevrolet Celebrity.  Or maybe a Ford Escort.

No, really.

“Today we’re having a conversation on whether an SKS 47 (photo)  should not be banned from use in the city of Philadelphia. Can you imagine having a conversation, having to fight back a challenge to some who would say that that should be okay, we should not ban that weapon.”

Click on the article, and see the picture, which features a Kalashnikov type rifle, and an SKS type rifle.  I’m not sure which one is an SKS 47.  These idiots don’t even have any clue what they are talking about banning.

He says there’s no proof that gun control solves any problems.  This is something Philadelphians desperately need to hear.  The politicians already know this, but they are hoping their constituents don’t, and as long as they can keep blaming Harrisburg, they don’t have to answer for their own failures.  Kudos for Dr. Lott for getting the message out there in our toxic media environment.

Brent Greer informs us that there’s about to be an important vote in Ohio on CCW improvements.  I like what I see:

The amendment provides a legal way for a person who does not have a concealed handgun license to transport an unloaded firearm in a motor vehicle. It allows a concealed handgun licensee to pick up a child from school, to carry a concealed firearm in one’s own home without a license, to carry concealed in places such as grocery stores that sell alcohol for off-site consumption, to carry concealed in publicly-owned facilities such as park shelters, parking garages, and highway rest stop buildings, and to carry in an unlocked, closed glove compartment or center console.

I carried in Ohio on my way to the NRA Annual Meeting, but rest stops are posted because they are public buildings.  I’m pretty sure someone intent on mugging someone at a rest area isn’t paying much attention to the posting.  This looks like a major improvement to Ohio’s carry laws.

Apparently 11 billion miles less in March this year than last year.  We’re also producing less carbon emissions.  Funny how the free market works like that.  I’m anxiously awaiting advanced in battery technology, which appears to be close to fruition, that will allow me to forgo gasoline entirely, and plug my car in at the end of the day.  Take that Saudi Arabia!

Over at Traction Control.

Thirdpower reports some problems with how the Brady Campaign is representing the Illinois FOID card.  The gun control crowd would be happy to pass licensing in other states, and will tell you it’s a “reasonable measure” and is “common sense.”  Illinois already has it, but apparently it’s not enough.  Is it any wonder we think the goal is just to make owning a gun so difficult that no one bothers?  Then, it’ll be “common sense” and “reasonable” to just ban them altogether.

Mixing explosives, blowing things up, and precision shooting, all in one place?  I would love to go to Joe’s gun blogger day at Boomershoot, but it’ll hinge on the employment situation, which looking into April of 2009 might be a bit untenable if the company I work for runs out of money.

Accidents involving firearms on shooting ranges are rare, but The Arizona Rifleman has some tips just in case.  Most accidents don’t involve someone getting shot, but you might remember my friend Jason had his M950 blow up on him once.  It’s not common, but it does happen.  The worst injury I’ve ever gotten on the range was putting a staple through my finger tacking a target up to the cardboard target holder.

Mayor Miller of Toronto thinks it’s an idea who’s time has come.  But you know, we’re just a bunch of paranoid gun nuts.  What do we know about slippery slopes?

He sees dead people:

“On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.”

To be fair to Barack Obama, it’s the kind of mistake any politician could make, but it’s an amusing screw-up nonetheless.  After reading about this gaffe, and others, in more detail, I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s just a stupid politician.

AP article on the ineffectiveness of the M855 round.

Dr. Martin Fackler, a former combat surgeon and a leading authority on bullet injuries, said the problem is the gun, not the bullet. The M4 rifle has a 14.5 inch barrel — too short to create the velocity needed for an M855 bullet to do maximum damage to the body.

My understanding is that the 5.56×45 needs to be doing over 2800 fps to do serious tissue damage, which it achieves being fired out of an M16, but not an M4.

Rules of war limit the type of ammunition conventional military units can shoot. The Hague Convention of 1899 bars hollow point bullets that expand in the body and cause injuries that someone is less likely to survive. The United States was not a party to that agreement. Yet, as most countries do, it adheres to the treaty, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

I would argue if our adversaries can behead people, we can use effective ammunition.  To me, this is the real problem.  With the right kind of ammo, I think the M4 would be much more effective than it is with M855.

“One of the things I’ve discovered in guns is that damned near everyone is an expert,” he says. “And they all have opinions.”

No doubt.

According to Jacob, it looks like the New York GOP mean to front a serious challenger against anti-gun Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, architect of HR1022, a sweeping semi-automatic ban, and expert on barrel shrouds.  I wish they would have done this in a year where it the Republican brand wasn’t smelling like a truck full of used diapers.