comments in () by Stephen P. Wenger
Well, Sort Of: A list member disagreed with my statement yesterday that "the .50 BMG cannot be chambered on an AR-15/M4 platform." He cites the Bohica Arms (http://www.bohicaarms.com/) conversion," which appears to be bolt-action .50 BMG upper that mounts on an AR-15 lower receiver. Technically, I suppose this qualifies as chambering a .50 BMG on an AR-15/M4 platform but it also converts that platform from an autoloading rifle to a single-shot rifle. (I suspect that it also makes it virtually mandatory that the converted gun be fired from a bipod.) The .50 Beowulf cartridge was designed precisely so that it will feed from a magazine that fits in the magazine well of an AR-15, retaining the normal repeating function of that rifle, and is a setup that is still practical to fire from the shoulder, with no further support.
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In the Wake of Heller: In a peculiar but not unprecedented turn of events, an anti-gun control plaintiff lost his case, last month's Nordyke v. King, but nonetheless managed to elicit a groundbreaking pro-gun rights declaration from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In deciding that it was OK for California's Alameda County to bar the possession of guns on county property - a law that quashed a gun show that had long been held on county fairgrounds - the Ninth Circuit affirmed that the Second Amendment does control state and local actions as well as federal ones. That was a step farther than last year's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, when Supreme Court declared authoritatively for the first time that the Second Amendment did indeed protect an individual right to bear arms. That decision concerned only federal actions… (This analysis is worth reading.)
http://www.reason.com/news/show/133331.html
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Reform F Troop?: Last Thursday, United States Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced S. 941, the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Reform and Firearms Modernization Act of 2009." Text for this bill is not yet available, but it will likely be substantially similar, if not identical, to the previous congressional session's House bill of the same name, H.R. 4900… There are a great many much-needed reforms in that bill, but a couple jump out at me as being particularly needed- anything that would "establish guidelines for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) inspections, examinations, or investigations of possible firearms violations," for example, is long overdue, as my colleague David Codrea illustrated…
http://www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m5d4-Is-it-even-possible-to-reform-the-BATFE?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner
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The Beat Goes On: Gun sales are surging and ammunition is difficult to find across the Grand Strand, following a national trend that began in November when Barack Obama was elected president and was stoked by a fear that the recession will spur a rise in crime. Sales at local gun shops have soared as much as 65 percent since the election. And since November, federal firearm background checks - required to become a gun owner - have outpaced previous years by 25 percent to 50 percent a month, FBI statistics show. Many gun buyers are concerned that President Obama's administration will attempt to push legislation that would make it more difficult to buy guns. And some people say they are stocking up on weapons and buying guns to protect themselves in the event of a home invasion…
http://www.thestate.com/local/story/776222.html
Amid a wave of publicity about drug-related gun violence along the Mexican border and police killings in U.S. cities, more Americans than ever oppose new government efforts to regulate guns. Recent polls show shrinking support for new gun control measures and strong public sentiment for enforcing existing laws instead. So strong is the shift in public opinion that a proposed assault-weapons ban - once backed by three in four Americans - now rates barely one in two. Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll, told reporters Tuesday that "every bit of data is showing us that Americans are getting more conservative about gun control." A CNN poll conducted in April found that 39 percent of Americans wanted stricter gun control laws, down from 50 percent in 2000. Another 46 percent said the gun laws should stay as they are, while 15 percent said they should be loosened - up from 9 percent in 2000…
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6409891.html
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New York Legislators Dodged RKBA Lobbyists: What do you do when a bunch of gun advocates are coming to town by the busload and you're about to pass a bunch of anti-gun legislation? You do what the state Assembly did this week. You run and hide. Or more specifically, you reschedule the votes to the day before they're scheduled to arrive, basically eliminating any chance that the lobbyists will have a chance to influence the outcome. We shouldn't be surprised. This is how the state government works. They do things in secret so the public doesn't have a chance to give them grief for it. They prepare the state budget behind closed doors every year, then pass budget bills literally in the middle of the night. This year, they were even more secretive about the budget than ever. They do it with pay raises for appointed staffers. They're doing it with the federal stimulus money. And this week, they did it to the gun lobby. There's a word for that kind of governing. It's called "cowardice." …
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2009/04/30/opinion/today/14721416.txt
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South Carolina Supremes Nix Tax Exemption: With one brief stroke of the pen, the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down the state's gun sales tax holiday that citizens have enjoyed since 2008 during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. And the ruling was based upon a technicality. In the past, the Court would simply delete unconstitutional or unacceptable issues unrelated to the subject of the bill, and then rule in favor of the main text of the legislation. However, the Court decided to change its rules during this session. Under the new rule, if a bill is submitted with unrelated, unconstitutional issues attached, the Court will simply strike down the entire bill rather than striking down only the part that is unconstitutional. As expected, the ruling has the bill's sponsors and the citizens up in arms…
http://www.examiner.com/x-3704-Columbia-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m5d6-Court-kills-South-Carolinas-gun-sales-tax-holiday
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CCW Confidentiality Advances in Tennessee: The House voted 83-12 with no debate Monday night to make secret the names of all 220,000 Tennesseans who have state issued handgun-carry permits. "This would make information contained in your handgun carry permit private and not open to the public," Rep. Eddie Bass, D-Prospect, told colleagues, who passed the bill seconds later. Meanwhile, House negotiators earlier in the day backpedaled on another permit-related bill and voted 3-2 to adopt a Senate version allowing permit holders to bring loaded pistols into bars and nightclubs. Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, the Senate sponsor of the measure shutting down public access to permit holders' records, said he may bring the bill to the Senate floor next week. Former House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, who blocked the bill from coming out of a subcommittee as speaker last year, voted against it on the floor.
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2009/may/05/bill-making-permit-holder-information-secret-clear/?local
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Tennessee Committee Amends Restaurant-Carry Bill: A joint committee on a bill to allow handgun carry permit holders to take their weapons into restaurants that serve alcohol decided to remove restrictions passed in the House that would not have allowed the guns in age-restricted restaurants and would have barred the weapons from any restaurant from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. The House panel in the committee voted 3-2 to recommend a Senate amendment that contained neither of the stipulations that passed the House. Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville and the sponsor of the bill, indicated to the AP that the restrictions he fought for in the House didn't matter once the bill went to a conference committee. Todd indicated in the committee that he might want to move its decision to the House floor as early as tonight. The Senate will have to wait at least 24 hours before considering the measure, according to Sen. Doug Jackson, meaning it will likely come to the Senate floor Thursday. The amendment indicated the bill, if passed into law, would go into effect June 1.
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/committee-axes-curfew-for-guns-in-restaurants-bill/
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Oops, Wrong Apartment: A home invasion ended in a deadly spray of bullets early Tuesday when a Midvale man wrested a gun from one of the intruders and opened fire on them. As many as 10 people were waiting outside an apartment near 1000 East and Watercress Lane (6995 South) when a 26-year-old answered a knock on the door about 1:30 a.m., said Midvale police Sgt. John Salazar. Wielding guns and knives, they pushed their way into the apartment, fighting the man and stabbing him in the hand, Salazar said. The man fled the apartment, followed by several assailants. Still inside were the man's two nieces, 14 and 22, and the 22-year-old's boyfriend. One of the intruders hit the older sister, angering her boyfriend, Salazar said. The boyfriend, 23, fought with the man and took hold of his gun. He began shooting in the apartment, hitting another intruder. The heavily tattooed 31-year-old man, carrying two knives and a gun, was shot three times, Salazar said. He died in the apartment as the other attackers fled… (Note how much more common it is for intended victims to disarm assailants and to shoot them with their own guns than the other way around.)
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12299784
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Oops, Wrong Gas Station: A robbery suspect found himself on the other end of a firearm, and the clerk says he pulled the trigger… Columbus police were called to a BP gas station on East 17th Avenue shortly after midnight Tuesday. Witnesses told police they heard a gunshot and saw a man laying outside in the gas station's parking lot. The clerk told police he was closing for the night when an individual attempted to rob the store. That's when the clerk says he shot the suspect, officials said. The suspect was transported to OSU Medical Center and currently is in critical condition…
http://www.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/local/article/police_clerk_shoots_robber/15431/
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Oh, Canada: Pierre Lemieux, a French Canadian, economist, professor, author, libertarian thorn in the flesh of the Canadian Leviathan, and a friend, has become a felon. Pierre refused to answer one of the questions on his application to renew his firearms license, and the licensing center refused to renew his license. He now faces the prospect of 10 years in prison for keeping firearms without a license. I will tell you some of his story. At this stage you may be thinking that it's going to be about gun control but, rest assured, it's not. Too many see trees, only trees, everywhere they look, and never a forest. Every abuse, every injustice is singular, isolate, one more thing to be addressed, corrected or reformed – unfortunate, deplorable really, but circumscribed, in an arena separate from the rest of life, someone else's problem, and someone else's cause…
http://lewrockwell.com/snyder/snyder18.html
---
Why Do I Call Him "Big Brother"?: According to an online Yahoo program, the Global Position System coordinates for the White House, probably one of the best-known publicly-owned buildings in the world, are 38.898590 Latitude and -77.035971 Longitude. And since you know that, it's no big deal for the White House to know the coordinates for your front door, is it? Some people think it is, and are upset over an army of some 140,000 workers hired in part with a $700 million taxpayer-funded contract to collect those GPS readings for every front door in the nation. The data collection, presented as being in preparation for the 2010 Census, is pinpointing with computer accuracy the locations and has raised considerable concern from privacy advocates who have questioned why the information is needed. They also are more than a little worried over what could be done with that information…
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=97208
---
In the Wake of Heller: In a peculiar but not unprecedented turn of events, an anti-gun control plaintiff lost his case, last month's Nordyke v. King, but nonetheless managed to elicit a groundbreaking pro-gun rights declaration from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In deciding that it was OK for California's Alameda County to bar the possession of guns on county property - a law that quashed a gun show that had long been held on county fairgrounds - the Ninth Circuit affirmed that the Second Amendment does control state and local actions as well as federal ones. That was a step farther than last year's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, when Supreme Court declared authoritatively for the first time that the Second Amendment did indeed protect an individual right to bear arms. That decision concerned only federal actions… (This analysis is worth reading.)
http://www.reason.com/news/show/133331.html
---
Reform F Troop?: Last Thursday, United States Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced S. 941, the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Reform and Firearms Modernization Act of 2009." Text for this bill is not yet available, but it will likely be substantially similar, if not identical, to the previous congressional session's House bill of the same name, H.R. 4900… There are a great many much-needed reforms in that bill, but a couple jump out at me as being particularly needed- anything that would "establish guidelines for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) inspections, examinations, or investigations of possible firearms violations," for example, is long overdue, as my colleague David Codrea illustrated…
http://www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m5d4-Is-it-even-possible-to-reform-the-BATFE?cid=exrss-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner
---
The Beat Goes On: Gun sales are surging and ammunition is difficult to find across the Grand Strand, following a national trend that began in November when Barack Obama was elected president and was stoked by a fear that the recession will spur a rise in crime. Sales at local gun shops have soared as much as 65 percent since the election. And since November, federal firearm background checks - required to become a gun owner - have outpaced previous years by 25 percent to 50 percent a month, FBI statistics show. Many gun buyers are concerned that President Obama's administration will attempt to push legislation that would make it more difficult to buy guns. And some people say they are stocking up on weapons and buying guns to protect themselves in the event of a home invasion…
http://www.thestate.com/local/story/776222.html
Amid a wave of publicity about drug-related gun violence along the Mexican border and police killings in U.S. cities, more Americans than ever oppose new government efforts to regulate guns. Recent polls show shrinking support for new gun control measures and strong public sentiment for enforcing existing laws instead. So strong is the shift in public opinion that a proposed assault-weapons ban - once backed by three in four Americans - now rates barely one in two. Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll, told reporters Tuesday that "every bit of data is showing us that Americans are getting more conservative about gun control." A CNN poll conducted in April found that 39 percent of Americans wanted stricter gun control laws, down from 50 percent in 2000. Another 46 percent said the gun laws should stay as they are, while 15 percent said they should be loosened - up from 9 percent in 2000…
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6409891.html
---
New York Legislators Dodged RKBA Lobbyists: What do you do when a bunch of gun advocates are coming to town by the busload and you're about to pass a bunch of anti-gun legislation? You do what the state Assembly did this week. You run and hide. Or more specifically, you reschedule the votes to the day before they're scheduled to arrive, basically eliminating any chance that the lobbyists will have a chance to influence the outcome. We shouldn't be surprised. This is how the state government works. They do things in secret so the public doesn't have a chance to give them grief for it. They prepare the state budget behind closed doors every year, then pass budget bills literally in the middle of the night. This year, they were even more secretive about the budget than ever. They do it with pay raises for appointed staffers. They're doing it with the federal stimulus money. And this week, they did it to the gun lobby. There's a word for that kind of governing. It's called "cowardice." …
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2009/04/30/opinion/today/14721416.txt
---
South Carolina Supremes Nix Tax Exemption: With one brief stroke of the pen, the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down the state's gun sales tax holiday that citizens have enjoyed since 2008 during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. And the ruling was based upon a technicality. In the past, the Court would simply delete unconstitutional or unacceptable issues unrelated to the subject of the bill, and then rule in favor of the main text of the legislation. However, the Court decided to change its rules during this session. Under the new rule, if a bill is submitted with unrelated, unconstitutional issues attached, the Court will simply strike down the entire bill rather than striking down only the part that is unconstitutional. As expected, the ruling has the bill's sponsors and the citizens up in arms…
http://www.examiner.com/x-3704-Columbia-Conservative-Examiner~y2009m5d6-Court-kills-South-Carolinas-gun-sales-tax-holiday
---
CCW Confidentiality Advances in Tennessee: The House voted 83-12 with no debate Monday night to make secret the names of all 220,000 Tennesseans who have state issued handgun-carry permits. "This would make information contained in your handgun carry permit private and not open to the public," Rep. Eddie Bass, D-Prospect, told colleagues, who passed the bill seconds later. Meanwhile, House negotiators earlier in the day backpedaled on another permit-related bill and voted 3-2 to adopt a Senate version allowing permit holders to bring loaded pistols into bars and nightclubs. Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, the Senate sponsor of the measure shutting down public access to permit holders' records, said he may bring the bill to the Senate floor next week. Former House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, who blocked the bill from coming out of a subcommittee as speaker last year, voted against it on the floor.
http://timesfreepress.com/news/2009/may/05/bill-making-permit-holder-information-secret-clear/?local
---
Tennessee Committee Amends Restaurant-Carry Bill: A joint committee on a bill to allow handgun carry permit holders to take their weapons into restaurants that serve alcohol decided to remove restrictions passed in the House that would not have allowed the guns in age-restricted restaurants and would have barred the weapons from any restaurant from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. The House panel in the committee voted 3-2 to recommend a Senate amendment that contained neither of the stipulations that passed the House. Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville and the sponsor of the bill, indicated to the AP that the restrictions he fought for in the House didn't matter once the bill went to a conference committee. Todd indicated in the committee that he might want to move its decision to the House floor as early as tonight. The Senate will have to wait at least 24 hours before considering the measure, according to Sen. Doug Jackson, meaning it will likely come to the Senate floor Thursday. The amendment indicated the bill, if passed into law, would go into effect June 1.
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2009/committee-axes-curfew-for-guns-in-restaurants-bill/
---
Oops, Wrong Apartment: A home invasion ended in a deadly spray of bullets early Tuesday when a Midvale man wrested a gun from one of the intruders and opened fire on them. As many as 10 people were waiting outside an apartment near 1000 East and Watercress Lane (6995 South) when a 26-year-old answered a knock on the door about 1:30 a.m., said Midvale police Sgt. John Salazar. Wielding guns and knives, they pushed their way into the apartment, fighting the man and stabbing him in the hand, Salazar said. The man fled the apartment, followed by several assailants. Still inside were the man's two nieces, 14 and 22, and the 22-year-old's boyfriend. One of the intruders hit the older sister, angering her boyfriend, Salazar said. The boyfriend, 23, fought with the man and took hold of his gun. He began shooting in the apartment, hitting another intruder. The heavily tattooed 31-year-old man, carrying two knives and a gun, was shot three times, Salazar said. He died in the apartment as the other attackers fled… (Note how much more common it is for intended victims to disarm assailants and to shoot them with their own guns than the other way around.)
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12299784
---
Oops, Wrong Gas Station: A robbery suspect found himself on the other end of a firearm, and the clerk says he pulled the trigger… Columbus police were called to a BP gas station on East 17th Avenue shortly after midnight Tuesday. Witnesses told police they heard a gunshot and saw a man laying outside in the gas station's parking lot. The clerk told police he was closing for the night when an individual attempted to rob the store. That's when the clerk says he shot the suspect, officials said. The suspect was transported to OSU Medical Center and currently is in critical condition…
http://www.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/local/article/police_clerk_shoots_robber/15431/
---
Oh, Canada: Pierre Lemieux, a French Canadian, economist, professor, author, libertarian thorn in the flesh of the Canadian Leviathan, and a friend, has become a felon. Pierre refused to answer one of the questions on his application to renew his firearms license, and the licensing center refused to renew his license. He now faces the prospect of 10 years in prison for keeping firearms without a license. I will tell you some of his story. At this stage you may be thinking that it's going to be about gun control but, rest assured, it's not. Too many see trees, only trees, everywhere they look, and never a forest. Every abuse, every injustice is singular, isolate, one more thing to be addressed, corrected or reformed – unfortunate, deplorable really, but circumscribed, in an arena separate from the rest of life, someone else's problem, and someone else's cause…
http://lewrockwell.com/snyder/snyder18.html
---
Why Do I Call Him "Big Brother"?: According to an online Yahoo program, the Global Position System coordinates for the White House, probably one of the best-known publicly-owned buildings in the world, are 38.898590 Latitude and -77.035971 Longitude. And since you know that, it's no big deal for the White House to know the coordinates for your front door, is it? Some people think it is, and are upset over an army of some 140,000 workers hired in part with a $700 million taxpayer-funded contract to collect those GPS readings for every front door in the nation. The data collection, presented as being in preparation for the 2010 Census, is pinpointing with computer accuracy the locations and has raised considerable concern from privacy advocates who have questioned why the information is needed. They also are more than a little worried over what could be done with that information…
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=97208
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Jason Baird
214-495-9858
