November 30, 2018 Newsletter by Jeff Pittman
Election
US Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s victory in the close and hotly contested Mississippi run-off election this week gives Republicans 53 Senate seats, up from 51. Since we commonly have had a couple of defections, we now have excellent chances of confirming President Trump’s judicial nominations. With Democrats now in control of the House of Representatives, the GOP won’t likely be able to pass any sort of major legislation into law, meaning that the Republican Senate will be primarily spending the next two years pushing through as many judicial nominations as possible. That’s why we voted for Trump and Smith.
Legislation
115 H.R. 38, “Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 was introduced by US Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) on January 3, 2017. The BILL PASSED THE HOUSE on December 6, 2017. It was sent to the Senate one day later, where it was read twice and then referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is supported by President Trump, the NRA and rank and file law enforcement officers. But it is stuck in the committee, where it will die at the end of this term unless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (RINO-KY) decides he wants it to be passed. Once it dies at the end of the term, a new bill would have to be filed and start all over, and it will never pass the now Democrat-majority US House under the “leadership” of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Perhaps Sen. McConnell needs some encouragement.
Litigation
Peoria County, IL, public defenders Chandra Justice and Mark Rose have filed motions in several cases in which defendants are charged with felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, arguing that requiring a permit violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
US District Court Judge William Young says that Massachusetts’ ban on AR-15s and large-capacity magazines is constitutional, writing: “The AR-15 and its analogs, along with large capacity magazines, are simply not weapons within the original meaning of the individual constitutional right to ‘bear arms.'” Yet, I don’t find that exception in the Constitution.
Another US District Judge in New Jersey has ruled that New Jersey’s ban on over-10-round magazines is constitutional. Again, I don’t find that exception in the Constitution.
“The FBI’s claims about Active Shootings increasing over time are completely flawed.” But the FBI still says the number is rapidly increasing.
California study
The Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP) at UC Davis and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conducted a study about the impact California’s gun control laws have had on homicide and suicide rates over the last 10 years and found that California’s gun control laws had absolutely no impact. And, the study’s lead researcher found that the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is severely flawed.
Chicago Hospital Shooting
We only note that hospitals in Illinois are all “gun free” zones. State law prohibits carry, even with a permit, “on or into… any building, real property, and parking area under the control of a public or private hospital or hospital affiliate, mental health facility, or nursing home.”
Another reason I never set foot in Illinois.
P.S. — Backup guns are good.
Jackson (almost) hospital shooting. 2 small children shot.
My wife and I were almost in the middle of this event. If you look at the last picture (#6), I was stuck in traffic at approximately the location of the last car at the far right in the right (top) lane under the street light, while my wife was out of the pictured area in the upper left corner, where she was waiting for me. This happened before dark. Neither of us was an eyewitness to the shootings. My main takeaway was that the campus cops, soon joined by city police and others, did a pretty good Barney Fife imitation and did nothing to prevent things from getting worse for the literally hundreds of passersby present at the time. (The street was completely full of traffic both ways, and that is a busy crosswalk. It was rush hour, and shift change time.) They blocked traffic in the middle of the block so a hundred or more motorists were stuck in the middle of a crime event with no exit, instead of blocking the intersection where traffic could turn another direction. If you see lots of cops running, get outta there, NOW. U-turns up on sidewalks work well if you can safely do that. I, and others, found that the cops were too busy looking for the absent criminal to pay any attention to my driving, as long as I didn’t try to run through their roadblocks. The hospital campus “lockdown” wasn’t effective. I had no trouble getting in at another entrance, my wife had no trouble leaving, and we had no trouble exiting the campus from inside the cordoned-off area. Then the campus gave an “all-clear,” but we still don’t know where the shooter is or if the campus is in fact clear.
More on mass attacks
97.8% of mass shootings over a 68-year period occurred in “gun-free zones.” 98%. Do you really need to know anything more?
Meanwhile, of “active shooter” events at which an armed citizen was present (presumably within the 2.2% of all events not at “gun-free zones”), the armed citizens were successful at stopping the killer 75.8% of the time and were successful in reducing the loss of life in an additional 18.2% of incidents.
And don’t forget the study finding that media sensationalizing of these attacks DOUBLES the number of massacres.
Preventing massacres
“There is a serious misunderstanding about the true role of all school safety technology. NONE of it is designed to prevent school violence. Its role is to reduce casualties and buy time for armed intervention.” — Greg Ellifritz
How about armed intervention NOW, instead of time to wait for it?
Surviving massacres.
Problem solving
Common sense
Liars
A good guy with a gun, vs. the Left
The reason the Left doesn’t cotton to the “good guy with a gun” argument, I’m told, is that the Left doesn’t think there are any good guys. Probably because there aren’t any in their camp and they’re unfamiliar with ours.
Enemies
Actual headline: “Anti-Gun Pastor [fatally] Shot Woman in the Head for Refusing to Have Sex with Him.” You can’t make this stuff up.
TOMS Shoe Company has donated $5 Million to various gun ban groups. In response, Adams Arms is offering free 30-round magazines in trade for your TOMS shoes.
Country music duo Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard, and country star Dierks Bentley have jumped on the gun control bandwagon.
Lebron James, a third-rate ball-bouncer still says you shouldn’t have guns while he has ten (10) armed guards.
Dick’s continues to trickle down. If you still shop there, for anything, I’m gonna send you a slap-o-gram.
Idiots, fools, imbeciles, snowflakes (take your pick)
Farnam on the armed forces and the media
The professors union at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Michigan is giving professors and students hockey pucks with which to defend themselves from killers armed with firearms. According to OU Police Chief Mark Gordon, to fight effectively, faculty and students need to be prepared to throw objects that are heavy and will cause a distraction (Distraction? Really? — JP). So Chief Gordon, your officers are all carrying pucks instead of guns, because that’s how you effectively fight armed killers? Gordon, a former youth hockey coach, said he recalled once being struck in the head with a puck and said it “caused a fair amount of damage to me,” and that “It was not a well-thought-out strategy.”
Duh. Why don’t y’all just tell the killers it’s a gun-free zone?
An unidentified man in an Arizona Walmart was injured when the loaded semiautomatic pistol he was carrying unholstered in the waistband of his sweatpants began to slip, and when he tried to reposition it and keep it from falling (and pulled the trigger), he shot himself in the groin area. He was in the meat department at the time.
The Only Ones
The Transportation Security Administration’s Office of Inspection has documented more than 200 cases of air marshals allegedly misusing firearms or misbehaving with guns between roughly 2005 and 2017.
Slow sheriffs and armed teachers
Pinellas County (FL) Sheriff Bob Gualtieri is leading the state commission investigating the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre says he now believes trained teachers should have access to guns to stop shooters and that he will ask the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission to recommend state law be changed so teachers can be armed. Gualtieri has previously been known as unfriendly the RKBA and back in 2015, he warned that legal open-carriers would be “thrown down on the ground with a gun pointed at them – or worse.”
The Three Rings of Safety, per Massad Ayoob:
The first, outermost ring is to have someone else make the phone call and to include a description of the armed good guy (this was before everyone had cell phones).
The middle ring is to have someone such as the manager of the business secure the entrance and point out the armed good guy when opening the door to allow officers to enter.
The innermost – and most important – ring is to avoid being perceived as a threat to the responding officers, such as not turning toward them with gun in hand.
Groups Seek National Dialogue for Police, Armed Citizens After Shooting
Sig Sauer CEO arrested
Sig Sauer CEO Ron Cohen was arrested/detained in Germany in connection to a contract that allegedly supplied Colombian police with Sig SP 2022 pistols without an export license.
NRA membership sale. Free camo duffel bag.
With the Donks in power in the US House, they’re probly gonna need us. Special offer code Y8J8901W.
Federal Cartridge to supply US Navy & Marines with 5.56x45mm “barrier blind” ammo
MK 318 MOD-0, 62-grain open tip boattail match bullet.
Walther PPS M2 Recall
Products
Dury’s Guns in San Antonio, TX, now accepts all major brand gift cards for full credit toward purchases from their store. Amazon, Books-A-Million, Target, whatever. Turn ’em into guns. Thanks, Johnny.
Remington has a Model 700 “Precision Chassis” Pistol. But their website is pretty much un-navigable.
Gun-shaped cookie cutters, just in time for Christmas. Now the kids won’t have to eat their food into the shape of a gun. Maybe you should bake a batch and put them in your kid’s lunch. Go ahead — I dare you.
TriStar Arms now has its Viper G2 Bronze autoloading shotgun in .410 bore. 5.8 lbs., $794. But the 28 gauge version is only 5.2 lbs.
Mossberg’s new Model 590 Shock ‘N’Saw is the Shockwave “non-shotgun” with the chainsaw-style top grip forearm.
Starline Brass now has .348 Winchester and .375 Winchester brass. I guess miracles will never cease.
Stephen Hunter has a new Bob Lee Swagger novel coming out next summer titled “Game of Snipers.”
