Les Jones

Guns > Thursday Gun Links #12

Pud is into guns. Who knew? And he's an S&W revolver fan. A man of impeccable taste, to be sure. Pud is the genius behind Fucked Company, MoBog, MarketBanker, InternalMemos, Bizient, and JungleScan.

I've mentioned before how slowly the Transportation Safety Administration is implementing the program to arm U.S. airlines pilots. How slow is it? So slow that arch anti-gunner Barbara Boxer is complaining.

I'm not sure how reliable the source is, but this UK story discusses a U.S. stun weapon based on a baby's scream.

Spoons points to some great wallpaper for Springfield Armory fans.

Jeff at Alphecca has the weekly check on anti-gun bias at his spiffy new MovableType blog.

Civilian Gun Use

Clayton Cramer notes the first defensive use of a gun by a CCW holder in Minnesota since the new law went into effect.

Joel Rosenberg notes a bar's change of heart concerning concealed carry.

Pete at the Civilian Gun Defense Blog notes the case of an Indianapolis homeowner who shot a man who broke a window to gain entry to his house. (The link is Bloggered, so you'll have to scroll down or search for "Indianapolis.") The homeowner "aimed low" and shot the man in the thigh. The invader later died. [The homeowner had good, but misguided, intentions. If someone is a threat, you shoot to stop them, which means a center mass (torso) shot. There is no wounding. Shooting someone in the thigh is likely to strike their femoral artery, which can result in fatal blood less in just a few minutes. - LJ]

Polls on Gun Control

This is a good site for surveys on gun control and right to bear arms issues. Some of the news is good, and some of it isn't so good, but it's a sobering look at what Americans think about guns.

• 43% of respondents owned guns
• Slightly over half of respondents consistently say that gun laws should be made more strict.
• 78% thought the Assault Weapons Ban should be kept in place. (The "assault" part of the name makes this one a loser for our side among people who don't know what actually gets banned, in my opinion.)
• Slightly over half of respondents favor ballistic fingerprinting.
• 62% are against a ban on the possession of handguns.
• 73% favor registration of guns
• 51% blame gun manufacturers "not at all" for crimes committed with guns in this country.
• 90% favor a law requiring background checks on people purchasing firearms at gun shows. (For those who don't know: there is no "gun show loophole." Licensed gun dealers must use the same procedure at a gun show that they use in their stores, namely, Federal background checks and fingerprints.
• 73% of respondents think that the second amendment protects the individual's right to own arms, which is very good news. We've gotten the word out on this subject, and we've won. We need to work on the ballistic fingerprinting, registration, and gun show fronts.

Giving the NRA Some Love

I've only linked to the NRA's site once, and most bloggers seem to ignore them about as much, which is a shame, so I'm doing penance. The NRA has a great Web site and they publish a half dozen great magazines every month. Your $35 a year subscription includes your choice of one of those magazines. I get the American Rifleman.

The print edition of this month's American Rifleman has a feature on small arms seized by U.S. forces in Iraq. Two items were especially interesting. Saddam was often seen with a Browning Hi-Power pistol, so it became the sidearm of choice for many Iraqi social climbers. Also, the Iraqi service pistol, the Tariq, was based on a licensed copy of the Beretta. So despite all of the laws Saddam was willing to flout, he went to the trouble of legally licensing a pistol design. Odd.

Wiley Clapp examines the output of Bowen Classic Arms, whose home is in my zip code of Louisville, Tennessee.

The NRA's Armed Citizen tracks justifiable shootings by, um, armed citizens.

A Cautionary Tale of Statistics

Posted to a thread on rec.guns:

From: William Vojak (bcvojak@yahoo.com)
Subject: Re: 10/22 defense
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Date: 2004-03-30 05:01:53 PST

# John Rogers wrote:
# #I was looking through some old posts, and I see there is much debate
# #over the use of a 10/22 as a defensive round in the home.

Well we have all heard that:

a) More people have been killed by a .22LR than any other round, and
b) In most gun fight, only 2-3 rounds are fired.

So a+b means we only need 3 round, .22LR firearms for defense.

Bill Vojak

This was followed by a poster who said "I sense you are making a jokingly point," which I'm hopingly he wasly.

This Week's Gun Pic

I just won this GunBroker.com auction for this custom Smith &Wesson 686 and a custom Prezine holster:

 
Posted by lesjones