unarmed citizens

Virus, Take Action, SD Law

Let’s start out with a little good news

The National Shooting Sports Foundation reports that unintentional firearm fatalities reached their lowest level ever, according to the latest data from the National Safety Council’s just-released Injury Facts Report 2018. The data showed that for 2018 there were 458 accidental firearm fatalities, accounting for less than 1% of unintentional fatalities from all principal causes. In the last two decades (1998-2018) accidental firearm deaths have declined by 47%.

Virus

unarmed citizens

Mississippi’s Legislature, which halted its regular session on March 18 over Corona virus concerns, will not reconvene April 1 as initially expected. No return date has been set.

You’ve heard that the Corona virus pandemic has affected gun sales and permits. In fact, sales are outpacing the periods post-9/11 and Katrina. Here are a few specifics:

  • New Jersey has shut down its participation in the NICS system, thus stopping all gun sales in the state. In New Jersey ALL firearms sales must go through an FFL including private sales. Background checks are required by law, and now not allowed at all. All gun shops in the state have been ordered to shut down as “non essential” businesses.
  • California’s 10-day waiting period and mandatory stay-at-home order mean that residents can’t buy guns.
  • Florida and parts of Pennsylvania have stopped processing all CCW license applications.
  • Remington’s New York factory has been shut down, and the company is offering its million-square-foot Ilion plant to be used as a manufacturing space for much-needed hospital supplies to fight the virus.
  • Kimber has shut down its New York and Alabama production plants. Customer service/repair in Alabama remains open.
  • Rhode Island has extended background checks for firearm purchases from seven days to 30.
  • Some retailers in different parts of the nation have stopped doing transfers for incoming guns from online sellers, because they’re too busy with local sales.
  • Many firearm retailers are running low on Form 4473s and other required forms due to the substantial surge in sales. ATF is currently limiting orders of ATF Form 4473s.

For unrelated reasons residents of Washington, D.C. can no longer buy handguns.

It doesn’t really matter WHY gun or permit sales are shut down, the result is the same. We note that there is no exception for pandemics in the Bill of Rights.

However, in Mississippi, the state has listed firearm and ammunition manufacturers and retailers as “Essential Services to Maintain Safety and Sanitation,” and thus exempt from the executive order for closure or limitation of no more than 10 people present. Of course the state also made bars exempt as essential services, so there is that.

Quite a number of jurisdictions are closing gun shops as “nonessential” while keeping liquor stores, bars and pot shops open as “essential.”

humor

Meanwhile, is New York confiscating disabled folks’ ventilators?

https://twitter.com/aneeman/status/1239786381297188865

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Now is a really good time for solo hunting, fishing and shooting, although the US Forest Service has closed all developed recreation areas on National Forests in Mississippi.

“But in case you’ve missed it, the media sources the nation trusts warn us that food supplies may run out, that criminals are being emptied from jails, courts shut down and police spread thinner than ever. The same government officials who tell us we need to protect ourselves with gloves and hand sanitizers and something close to house arrest, are also telling us to have meds and food on hand, though they are somewhere between silent and negative toward protecting ourselves from the criminals they’re releasing.” — Massad Ayoob

Anybody in my area itching to buy overpriced used guns? 😉

Take Action

NRA budget cuts

The Wall Street Journal reports that the NRA has experienced a “a major disruption to our fundraising activities,” and is cutting salaries/hours by 20% across the board and laying off an unspecified number of employees after a precipitous drop in fundraising. Due to public health guidance and state or local restrictions, all Friends of NRA banquets across the country were canceled as were gun shows, recruitment stations and other income-generating activities. While our report indicates that this is due to the Coronavirus crisis, I wonder how much income loss was due to the nonsense the NRA Board and EVP Wayne LaPierre have been up to. Just last week I returned a fundraising mailer to NRA with a note that they need to dump LaPierre before getting any more money from me, a Benefactor Life Member.

The WSJ story indicates that NRA CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre will take a pay cut larger than 20%, though the exact amount wasn’t specified. LaPierre’s base salary was $1.27 million in 2018, the most recent available year, and his total pay was $2.2 million after a 2018 raise of 41% for top officials.

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What Every Gun Owner Needs To Know About Self Defense Law (.pdf)

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Boy Scout Camp Binachi, near Meridian, MS, has shooting facilities open to the public.

Products

Tikka, made by Sako, has now produced its one-millionth T3/T3x rifle. If you’re in the market for a bolt rifle, be sure to look at the Tikka products. Mine are excellent.

CZ’s new 457 Long Range Precision rimfire rifle (We understand all CZ facilities are shut down for the beer plague.)

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