The 46-year-old, who has a concealed carry license and a FOID card, pulled out his gun and opened fire, police said. The suspect shot back.
The suspect got into another car and took off, but got into a car crash at 79th and Pulaski.
Police said three people were taken into custody. The suspect who was shot suffered a graze wound and was hospitalized in good condition.
F Paul Valone, Grass Roots North Carolina
On January 1, 2023, F. Paul Valone, President of Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC) sent duplicate open letters to the North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and Tim Moore, Speaker of the House. The letters are formal open letters, also sent to the GRNC mailing list. This correspondent is on the list and received both letters.
Fair disclosure: I know F. Paul Valone and have corresponded with him. We have met at national Gun Rights Policy Conferences. I wrote a review of Rules for Anti-Radicals, published on AmmoLand.
Paul is a serious thinker about politics, political organizations, political tactics, and political power.
The letters reflect this long term thinking, and decades of practical experience.
They are things of beauty. Nicolo Machiavelli would be pleased.
The letters, with studied politeness, respect for forms, and subtlety, remind the North Carolina legislature of the political power and reputation of GRNC.
AmmoLand readers deserve to see how a master at using a political activist group to achieve political ends, communicates to the political leadership and everyone else.
January 1, 2023
The Honorable Tim Moore, Speaker
West Jones Street, Room 2304
Raleigh, NC 27601
Dear Speaker Moore:
I hope you have been well. On this first day of a New Year so bright with potential, please accept my congratulations on achieving a near-supermajority in the North Carolina House.
Realizing the competing interests you face, when the 2023-2024 session of the NC General Assembly convenes, I strongly urge you to consider the interests of Second Amendment volunteers and voters who worked tirelessly to create a Republican majority capable of over-riding Governor Roy Cooper’s many gun-related vetoes.
Even beyond GRNC’s “Remember in November” voter education project which, in the 2022 elections, distributed 150,000 voter guides, including 120,000 mailed directly to gun-owning voters, the GRNC Political Victory Fund (GRNC-PVF) and our independent expenditure PAC, the Judicial Fairness Project (JFP), were highly active. As you probably know, with rare exceptions GRNC-PVF works to elect pro-gun candidates through a highly refined system of independent expenditures like those described below.
GRNC-PVF independent expenditures in General Assembly and Congressional races:
- 792,535 GRNC Political Victory Fund email recommendations sent
- 42,831 GRNC-PVF postcard election alerts mailed19,765 GRNC-PVF automated telephone alerts delivered
- 67,161 Peer-to-Peer (P2P) text messages sent
Geofencing accomplishments:
This year, GRNC instituted new, cutting-edge methods to reach voters. In addition to P2P texting described above, GRNC used cutting-edge “geofencing” technology to deliver:
- 1,717,501 display impressions to mobile devices of gun-owning “drop-off” voters
- Achieving a unique reach of 29,477
- Producing 7,854 display clicks
- Resulting in 33,432 follow-up text messages
Overall, of 34 races targeted by the GRNC-PVF and JFP, we won an outstanding 27, yielding a win rate of nearly 80%. GRNC-PVF and JFP were also highly active in judicial elections, first by including judicial recommendations in all election alerts and second, by showcasing NC Supreme Court and Court of Appeals candidates at events such as our “Ring Steel for Freedom” event headlined by Senator-elect Ted Budd.
I have no doubt that other conservative interests will vie for precious legislative resources, but I am certain none conducted express advocacy campaigns featuring the breadth, sophistication, and effectiveness with which we supported Second Amendment candidates in the 2022 elections.
Accordingly, GRNC’s Legislative Action Team will be highly active in the upcoming session – a session in which our agenda will include (but not necessarily be limited to)
- Permitless or “constitutional” carry of concealed firearms
- Repealing our archaic, Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit law
- Protecting religious institutions by eliminating the “church carry loophole"
- Protecting North Carolina’s long tradition of shooting on personal property
Obviously, GRNC will also continue to vociferously oppose gun control measures such as deceptive and unconstitutional “red flag” gun confiscation – a priority I’m certain you share.
Other dubious entities might claim to speak for North Carolina gun owners, but among state-level organizations, only Grass Roots North Carolina truly represents the interest of our state’s Second Amendment advocates.
Given new GOP power plus the role of gun voters in creating it, I have every confidence Republican leadership will end our frustrating seven-year stalemate and advance the rights of Second Amendment supporters who look forward to reaping the rewards they worked so hard to achieve.
Armatissimi e liberissimi, *
President, Grass Roots North Carolina
Executive Director, Rights Watch International
Radio host,Guns, Politics and Freedom
* First spoken by Niccolo Machiavelli, the father of modern power politics, with reference to the universally armed and therefore unconquerable Swiss, Armatissimi e liberissimi means “most armed, most free.” As an expression of the importance of the right to arms to freedom, it is GRNC’s credo.
There is nothing in the letters about crude threats such as "nice little legislature you got there". There is nothing that is obviously threatening. But, if you are in a position of power in the legislature, you know the tough reputation GRNC has gained over the years. The facts stated in the letter show GRNC has raw political power at its disposal. Those facts speak volumes of the danger of opposing GRNC and the advantages to be gained by supporting GRNC initiatives.
Opinion:
Once, when in an official capacity as a scientist, working for the military bureaucracy, this correspondent had to write a letter to another bureaucracy. It had to be approved by my Boss's boss. He circulated the letter around the bureaucracy, with the exhortation - this is how you write a letter.
The GRNC letter signed by F. Paul Valone far exceeds my former efforts.
This is how you write an open letter to a legislature.
©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Early information indicated a man was fueling up his vehicle at the gas station when Frazier approached him with a gun and attempted to rob him. The man went back to his vehicle grabbed a gun and shot Frazier, according to police.
The man called police to report the incident. Detectives conducted interviews and collected evidence at the scene. The man was not booked into jail. The case will be reviewed further for any possible charges.
(snip)
Early information indicated a man attempted to enter a home when a woman inside called a family member to come help. The family member arrived and confronted the victim in front of the residence, police said.
A verbal altercation occurred, and the victim made threats to kill the man, raising a black object believed to be a gun. The family member then shot the victim claiming self-defense, according to police.
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — In a dramatic turn of events, police saved the life of an alleged burglar after he was shot by a homeowner in Haines City early Friday morning, authorities said.
Haines City Police Chief Goreck shared more information about the incident at a press conference Friday afternoon.
He said the homeowner and his girlfriend returned to the residence at about 1:45 a.m. and saw two strangers standing in the kitchen.
Police said the homeowner, who has a permit to carry concealed weapons, drew his firearm and fired five rounds at the suspect closest to him.
On June 14, 2022, Jesus Perez-Garcia, was arrested as a passenger in a car crossing the Mexican border into the United States. A significant quantity of Illegal drugs were found in the vehicle's bumper. Jesus claimed he had no knowledge of the drugs being there. The driver of the vehicle, Antonio, supported Jesus' claim, saying he took full responsibility for the drugs being on the vehicle. Jesus admitted the driver told him he was going to get drugs, but says he thought the drugs would be for personal use in Mexico.
Jesus has no criminal history. He worked in California as a security guard and is a U.S. citizen. He pled not guilty and was released on bond on June 30.
The conditions of bail were not disclosed at the hearing.
Later, Jesus learned one of the conditions of bond was that he be disarmed. This meant he could not work as an armed security guard or protect his family. After learning of the no firearms condition, Jesus appealed the bail condition on July 29, 2022. The District Judge, Gonzalo P. Curiel, held the bail condition of no firearms did not violate rights protected by the Second Amendment because there was historical precedent in 19th century surety statutes, which required a bond for people who were accused of violent intent, for them to carry firearms in public. Judge Curiel found the surety statutes to be close enough fit for purposes of release on bond. Jesus has appealed the District court ruling to the Ninth Circuit. From the appeal to the Ninth Circuit, USA v Jesus Perez-Garcia :
Mr. Perez-Garcia is one of the pretrial releasees subject to this condition. A U.S. citizen and licensed gun owner with no criminal history, Mr. Perez-Garcia used his firearm to work as a security guard and to defend his home. Ex.B-27. He was arrested as a passenger in a car containing drugs. He denied knowing about the drugs, and the driver took sole responsibility. Ex.C-78–79. Yet the court concluded that Standard Condition #4 could constitutionally be applied to him because the government had accused him of a “serious” drug crime.Ex.A-10–11.
The Ninth Circuit Federal Public and Community Defenders filed an amicus brief in support of Jesus. From the amicus brief in USA v Jesus Perez Garcia:
II. The district court’s affirmance of the no-firearms condition violated this Court’s precedents requiring conditions that infringe upon significant constitutional liberty interests to be justified by on-the-record, evidence-based findings of necessity.
Here, notwithstanding these principles, the magistrate judge disarmed Mr. Perez-Garcia without making any findings at all. Mem. Ex. C at 25. Unfortunately, this is the norm in this Circuit. Mr. Perez-Garcia has shown that, in the Southern District of California, the Second Amendment right is stripped from pretrial releasees virtually across the board. Mem. Ex. C at 28–72. An informal survey of amici’s offices confirms that the same practices are in effect across the Circuit. Pretrial releasees are routinely disarmed—generally with no discussion and no explanation of why their disarmament qualifies as the “least restrictive” measure necessary to reasonably assure their appearance at trial or the safety of the 11 community. 18 U.S.C. § 3142(c)(1)(B). And this practice is largely impervious to the type of charge, affecting even those accused of the least violent—and least weapons-related—offenses imaginable. See, e.g., United States v. Lopez, No. 21-cr -69 (D. Mont.) (Doc. 11 at 2) (bookkeeper charged with embezzlement);United States v. Mosmiller, No. 21-cr -84 (D. Mont.) (Doc. 13 at 2) (pharmacy technician charged with purloining hydrocodone pills); United States v. Uziewe, No. 20-cr -196 (E.D. Cal.) (Doc. 20 at 1) (owner of Christian bookstore charged with bank fraud).
There is a peculiar article published in Jurist.org. about the case. It claims the amicus brief from the public defenders states the Supreme Court Bruen decision was "interest balancing under the guise of historical comparison", and the amicus brief, from the public defenders, cautions against the Bruen test. The understanding of this correspondent is exactly the opposite. From the article at Jurist.org:
The brief asserts that the Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen amounted to “interest balancing under the guise of historical comparison.” In that case, the Court struck down a New York law requiring individuals applying for unrestricted handgun licenses to demonstrate a greater need for self-defense than the general public. The brief contends that the Bruen rule insists “that the government demonstrate that challenged regulations are consistent with a narrow, well-defined historical tradition.” The brief cautions against the Bruen test.
Perhaps there is some strange, legalistic interpretation which would show the amicus brief to say opposite what it says. Perhaps a peculiar edit substituted "brief" for opinion of the court, or confused the words of the Judge for those of the public defenders group, in the Jurist.org article.
It is most peculiar. To determine who is correct, read the amicus brief at the link, and the article at Jurist.org, by Lou Kettering.
There are at least two cases on appeal in the Fifth Circuit with a common theme. The theme is simple. A court cannot take away fundamental constitutional rights from ordinary citizens without a criminal conviction. In Texas, a judge ruled a mere restraining order, without a trial and conviction for domestic violence, is not sufficient to take away the right to keep and bear arms. The same court found a mere indictment was insufficient to remove the fundamental right to keep and bear arms, because the person had not been convicted of a crime.
The two judges in the Ninth Circuit have found precisely the opposite: a person, not convicted of any crime, may have their fundamental right to keep and bear arms removed as a condition of bond, regardless of the circumstances, merely because they have been arrested and accused.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Preliminary information: On Friday, January 27, 2023, at around 12:30 a.m., Atlanta police were dispatched to 2778 Vineyard Dr SE in reference to a larceny from auto call. Upon arrival, officers spoke to the victim who stated he approached an unknown suspicious male attempting to break into his mother’s vehicle. The male suspect began shooting at the victim when the victim returned fire with his own firearm. The suspect then fled from the scene and entered the passenger side of a white SUV. An additional suspect, already in the driver’s seat of the vehicle sped away. During this time, shots were fired again towards the victim, causing him to return fire.
Shortly after, officers noticed the suspect vehicle, a white SUV in the parking lot of 1576 Moury Ave. Upon further investigation, officers noticed a bullet hole in the driver’s side door and observed a juvenile female hiding behind the passenger seat on the floorboard. The juvenile sustained a graze wound to her thigh and was transported to the hospital for medical treatment. It was later revealed the juvenile was driving the vehicle during the incident and that was how she sustained her injury. The male suspect believed to be with the juvenile during the incident was able to flee from the scene. The juvenile was later issued a copy of charges for Parties to Crime and No License on Person. Her mother was contacted and issued a copy of charges for Curfew Violation for her child. The victim did not sustain any injuries. Investigators responded to the scene and the investigation continues.
Please keep in mind the above information is preliminary in nature and can change as the investigation progresses and new information comes to light.
Image from wikimedia naturepics online, 2010
On Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at Wales, Alaska, a young mother and her child were killed by a polar bear. The weather was atrocious. Visibility was very bad. The attacks on people started about the middle of the brief, five hour period of daylight at this time of year. Winds were gusting to 50 mph, according to reports form a nearby weather station. This would result in extreme reductions of visibility, near whiteout conditions, at times. The bear started chasing people about 2:30 p.m. Students and adults took refuge in the school, barely able to get the door shut before the bear could enter. The victims are reported to be 24 year old Summer Myomick and her one year old son Clyde Ongtowasruk. The victim and her one year old sun were killed just outside the school doors.
Alaska State Troopers on Wednesday identified the victims as 24-year-old St. Michael resident Summer Myomick and 1-year-old Clyde Ongtowasruk.
Troopers said reports of a polar bear attack came in around 2:30 p.m., with initial accounts describing the bear chasing several people before a Wales resident shot and killed the animal “as it attacked the pair.” Myomick was walking with her son between the school and the Wales clinic when the bear attacked them, troopers said.
Polar bear scientist, Susan Crawford, explained the increase in attacks were predictable results of increases in polar bear populations. From polarbearscience.com:
Polar bear attacks in winter are almost always associated with a bear that has not been able to resume feeding in the fall. More bears and restricted hunting means more young bears (as well as old bears or sick ones) become food stressed because they can’t compete with big mature males for food. Mature bears often steal any seals that young bears are able to kill, making the youngsters desperate for food.
Susan Crawford documents the polar bear population in the region is thriving:
The Chukchi Sea polar bears are currently thriving and numbers may still be increasing (AC SWG 2018; Conn et al. 2021; Regehr et al. 2018; Rode et al. 2014, 2015, 2018).
Crawford predicted the increase in attacks on humans in 2016:
Given the fact that there are now many more polar bears than there were in the 1970s as well as more people living in many coastal Arctic communities, problems with bears in winter are likely to increase, as this winter’s events show. More bears out on the ice in winter (January-March) will almost certainly create more competition for the little bit of food that’s available (seals are hard to catch in winter), which means some bears might increasingly be looking for alternate sources of food onshore.
Polar bear advocate Geoff York, the senior director of conservation at Polar Bears International stated the obvious: Documented polar bear fatalities are rare in Alaska. From newsweek:
"I definitely want to emphasize just how rare this attack is. Most
polar bear attacks happen during that ice-free season when it's warmer [and] when there's less sea ice. That's when we've historically seen more issues between humans and bears," York said. "To have a fatal encounter in January, in northern Alaska, is extraordinarily rare."The last fatal polar bear attack to occur in Alaska was in December 1990. Similar to Tuesday's, the 1990 attack was unprovoked. York said that in 1990, it had been a thin and hungry bear.
There are only three documented cases of fatal polar bear attacks in Alaska. The latest happened on January 17, 2023. The previous case happened on December 9, 1990. The case before that happened in June of 1885. Of the documented three fatal polar bear attacks in Alaska, two have been during the winter.
Numerous articles link the attack to "climate change" on the theory that everything is attributable to climate change. From Geoff York:
"This was in that window where historically people would feel pretty safe. So clearly as these changes are occurring in the ecosystem and with the sea ice in these regions, it's becoming a lot more dynamic.
Sea ice was and is plentiful this winter. An obvious change, the "polar bear" in the room, so to speak, is carefully not mentioned by the polar bear advocates. As noted by Susan Crawford, it is increasing polar bear populations.
Forbid almost all hunting of polar bears. Polar bear populations boom. Unsurprising result: more polar bear attacks on humans.
The number of documented humans killed by polar bears in Alaska just doubled, on January 17, 2023.
Opinion:
Human populations in the Arctic have increased as well, from tourism and researchers. Increasing human populations are a factor which is often mentioned by polar bear advocates. Increasing polar bear populations are studiously ignored by the old media and the bear advocates. It does not serve the narrative of "climate change" being responsible for everything, especially as polar bears are supposed to be dying off, because of the same "climate change".
The climate is always changing. No one disputes that. What is disputed is how much man can influence the changing climate, whether the changing climate is good or bad, how fast it is happening, and how to deal with it.
More and more people are noting those who push "climate change" as a religious doctrine, are those who believe they benefit the most from government control over everything in every life on earth.
"Climate change" is not a scientific hypothesis. It can never be disproved. If nothing changes, climate change is coming. If it gets warmer, "climate change" is responsible. if it gets colder "climate change" is responsible. It is the perfect excuse for those in power to do whatever they want to do with the rest of us.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
The charges against Reese were based on "eyewitness and other witness statements, statements of the arrested, physical evidence on the scene and other evidence recovered," the complaint states.
Reese's lawyers, Stephen Wenke and Perry Ancona, said the court found Reese acted in self defense, though they declined to go into specifics. Wenke described the shooting as "just a tragic situation."
On January 18, 2023, at the SHOT Show, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) hosted a slide show on what has been happening in the National Firearms Act Division of the ATF.
This presentation did not explain ramifications of the controversial "new rule" on stabilizing pistol braces. It was an overview of the internal happenings in the NFA division of the ATF.
This correspondent has seen many such presentations in other organizations in his career. There is useful information to be gained. Do not expect bureaucracies to air their "dirty laundry" in public. Each agency and each division is going to do their best to present themselves in a positive light. They will explain any shortcomings as something outside their control. They will convincingly explain why they need more resources and explain they are doing the best they can with the limited resources they have.
Some very interesting numbers were presented showing how the workload of the NFA division has increased in the past few years.
FY is an abbreviation for Fiscal Year. A Fiscal Year is a one year period during which the agency expends its annual budget. It is not the same as a calendar year. The Fiscal Year for the ATF (and most federal agencies) is from October 1st to September 30th. FY 2020 started on October 1st 2019 and ended on September 30th, 2020. FY 2021 started on October 1st 2020 and ended on September 30, 2021. FY 2022 started on October 1st 2021 and ended on September 30th, 2022.
The slides showed how many NFA applications were processed in each of the last three Fiscal Years, up to September 30th, 2022. The FY 2019 number was taken from a previous report:
These are applications processed, which appear to be almost entirely Forms 1,3,4, and 5.
The numbers of the various forms were not shown in the slide show. Experience has shown the vast majority of these applications are Form 4 for the transfer of silencers.
The total number of silencer tax stamps existent in the USA as of 2019 was 2,042,719. The total silencer tax stamps existent in the USA as of 2020 was 2,664,774. The increase was 622,055 from 2019 to 2020. The numbers do not precisely match with the application numbers. The exact date the number of tax stamps for silencers was reported is not clear.
The number of legal silencers in the United States has not been updated since 2020. It is now 2023. When this correspondent asked representatives at the briefing if the numbers presented represented about a one million increase in legal silencers from 2020 to the end of 2022, they stated the number was reasonably correct.
The number of legal silencers in the United States now exceeds 3.6 million. The number is likely to be considerably higher, but has not been directly reported.
It is difficult to argue silencers are not in common use when there are about four million legal silencers in the United States. In the Caetano case, the Supreme Court held 200,000 stun guns in the United States shows they are in common use.
Common use is a main criteria for protection under the Second Amendment, in the Heller, McDonald, Caetano, and Bruen decisions at the Supreme Court.
The presentation made a good case the NFA division of the ATF is overwhelmed with NFA applications, leading to significant wait times to process those applications.
The NFA division is experiencing considerable stress in processing NFA forms expeditiously, especially Form 4s. Those working to process the applications put in long hours trying to decrease the backlog.
The ATF does not receive the $200 tax for NFA applicaitons. The money goes directly to the general fund. Therefore, the NFA cannot simply hire more people to process more forms.
A new group will be required to process the flood of form 1s which are expected under the new rule on stabilizing braces. The current system cannot handle an increase of several hundred thousand or a few million applications for Form 1s.
The Bruen decision said unreasonable delays in processing permits was impermissible, under the Second Amendment.
Court challenges are ongoing which argue silencers are protected by the Second Amendment.
Court challenges are ongoing on the new rule for stabilizing braces. That is a subject for another article.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
ROSWELL, N.M. (KRQE) – Roswell Police are saying the shooting death of a man will be ruled self-defense. Police say Brian Jaramillo was shot multiple times Monday morning by his wife inside a business the two owned.
Driving around near the area with her fiance, looking out of her mother’s car, Wiggins said she immediately recognized the car driving behind them.
“I said, ‘babe, that’s the car’. So, I immediately call the police, 911.”
While on the phone, Wiggins said the teens started “literally shooting, the passenger is shooting at us, because they seen, they ran the stop sign, they seen me go through. They, like, ‘yeah she following us.'”
Wiggins said that’s when she started firing her own gun back at the fleeing suspects before the teens crashed the stolen SUV head-on into a car on Kings Lane.
“If you are a teenager at 4 o’clock in the morning, you should be getting ready for high school or school, not out jacking people for their cars,” said Wiggins. “Then for it be kids, just think if I did have my gun and I shot and they shot and we going back and forth at my job and they could have killed me, or I could have killed somebody, because somebodies kids out jacking people.”
If you have ever thought you might want, need, or find useful, a suppressed firearm, there is good news. .22 rifles with threaded barrels are available for very little money.
Many years ago, in a land far, far away, a close friend and poacher (hunting was forbidden altogether) obtained a .22 single shot rifle. The rifle had been smuggled into the country by someone, and had ended up in the hands of my friend. He showed me how to make an improvised suppressor in about 30 minutes, which worked surprisingly well.
The tricky part was lining up the hole in the suppressor with the bore of the rifle. This was done by eye, by centering the hole while looking through the suppressor, down the bore, and tightening the hose clamp which held the suppressor to the barrel. It worked well, but had to be checked frequently.
The most difficult part of making an effective, improvised suppressor, is making sure the bore and suppressor are aligned.
The easiest way to make sure the bore and suppressor are aligned is to have the muzzle of the firearm properly threaded. Anyone with a modest amount of mechanical ability, access to a lathe, and a few specialized tools can do this minor machining. This correspondent has done it. The time, energy, and tooling it cost to do so was easily the equivalent of purchasing two of the three rifles to be discussed in this article. The end result worked satisfactorily. What is a minuscule extra effort in the manufacturing process takes much more to do as an add-on by a hobbyist.
Threaded muzzles are used to attach a variety of accessories. Muzzle brakes and flash hiders are common. It is not a good idea to fire .22 shot cartridges through a suppressor, but a reverse paradox tube doubles or triples the effective range of these minuscule shotshells. Bloop tubes can extend the sight radius.
A thread converter is handy for attaching homemade reverse paradox tubes, and are currently available for about $5-10. They are highly recommended. They make good thread protectors.
The bad news is: to legally own a suppressor in the United States, you are required to be fingerprinted, photographed, fill out copious numbers of forms, go through months of waiting, and pay a $200 tax. This is a worthwhile endeavor. I suggest people do it now, before the desire for a suppressed firearm becomes an urgent need. The process to make your own, legally, has become more complicated under the Biden administration.
Procrastination is difficult to overcome. Spending money on a nice little rifle you would like to have, anyway, is easy.
The two least expensive .22 rifles this correspondent has seen on the market are the Rossi RS22 with the threaded barrel, model RS22L1811TH, and the Rock Island Armory YTA, which comes with a threaded barrel. The Rossi is a semi-auto with a 10 shot magazine. The Rock Island is a bolt action which also has a 10 shot magazine. When firing subsonic ammunition, through a modest suppressor, both are very quiet, but the Rock Island has the edge. The Rossi produces a little action noise with each shot.
This correspondent picked up the previous version of the Rock Island YTA, the 14Y (with a wood stock) for $110, as recalled from a couple of years ago. A Rossi RS22L1811TH was picked up on sale, a few months ago, for about $140, out the door. The Rossi weighs less than five lbs with scope and suppressor installed. The Rock Island is a little more at five lbs, ten ounces, with the same scope and suppressor.
A close also ran for an inexpensive .22 rifle with a threaded barrel is the Savage Rascal with heavy barrel and threaded muzzle. It was spotted at a local Cal-Ranch store on sale for $199. It looks to be a delightful little single shot with the famous Savage AccuTrigger, weighing only 3.5 lbs. (without sights, scope, or suppressor).
All three of the rifles allow for easy removal of the action and barrel from the stock. This makes the two groups short enough to pack into common luggage.
Opinion: Having shot .22 rimfire rifles and pistols with and without suppressors, this correspondent would require significant reasons to acquire a .22 that did not have the barrel threaded. When done at the factory, the additional cost is lost in the noise of manufacturing. Unless one is a skilled machinist, with the tools readily available, the cost of threading a barrel, in time and effort, will easily pay for one of these rifles. The most basic and inexpensive of commercial suppressors or legally home made suppressors, do a decent job when mounted on a .22 rifle using subsonic ammunition. .22 pistols require much more to reduce the noise level to where they can be fired without a threat to the shooters hearing.
How to videos to improve the trigger are available. Put a fraction of the hours of work required to thread a barrel (competent machinists excepted), into improving the trigger of a factory rifle with a threaded barrel. The end result will be a delight to carry in the woods and shoot.
©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — A 37-year-old man died after a shooting Saturday night in Pflugerville, the Austin Police Department said in a press release
APD determined the shooting was in self defense following a fight at a home between several people.
APD said Wilton Acker, 37, and another person were fighting in a home in the 13900 block of Macquarie Drive Saturday. Another person intervened during the fight and shot Acker.
According to the Terre Haute Police Department, officers were sent to the 200 block of N. Fruitridge Ave. around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday after a call about a homeowner shooting an intruder in their home.
The call to dispatch also mentioned a second person with the intruder who had ran away from the area.
SANFORD, Fla. - Sanford Police said detectives are still trying to identify a man who was shot and killed after they said he tried carjacking an employee behind a bar. The employee's father described his daughter as a fighter who suffered lots of bruises during the attack but is doing alright. She even wanted to go back to work immediately, despite the attack.
A FOX 35 News crew observed what appeared to be a bullet hole in the back door of the victim’s white Cadillac Escalade that was parked behind George’s Tavern, at 1011 S French Ave.
According to police, based on surveillance video, a man jumped out of
this portable toilet and tried to steal the employee's vehicle, and that
was when another man, described as the carjacking victim's boyfriend,
shot and killed the alleged carjacker.
Dean Weingarten in front of the Supreme Court
The jurisprudence of the Second Amendment is: it was ratified to protect the existing right of the people to keep and bear arms. It did not create new rights. One reason to protect the rights was to enable the creation of militias from the armed population.
It was well understood, at the time of ratification, the right to keep and bear arms included the right to do so for self defense as well as community defense, for hunting, and included the ancillary rights to practice, buy, sell and make weapons, as well as ammunition and accessories for them. These rights were not disputed, and were considered to be derived from the natural rights to life and liberty. From Heller:
1. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. Pp. 2–53.
The American Second Amendment was recognized as needed because the English right to arms had been construed too narrowly to protect the colonists against the exercise of power by King George and the British Empire. The Americans had recently fought a long and bitter war sparked by the British attempts at disarming the American colonists. The initial battles of Lexington and Concord were direct attempts by the representatives of the British Crown to confiscate gunpowder and, particularly, cannon. Cannon were crew served weapons. The officers of the Crown confiscated plenty of individual weapons as well.
On April 3, 1775, the British government seized 13,425 musket cartridges with ball.
On April 19, the famous battles of Lexington and Concord occurred.
After April 19, General Gage worked to disarm Bostonians:
Then per the Connecticut Current newspaper, a General Gage decided to change the British narrative. He noted that the British just wanted to hold the guns for a little bit “for safe keeping” and then they promised to return them, “And that, the arms aforesaid at a suitable time would be return’d to the owners.”
Bostonians proceeded to turn in 1778 muskets, 634 pistols, 973 bayonets and 38 blunderbusses.
In June of 1775 General Gage declared martial law and offered to pardon all who would lay down their arms— except Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Per the (Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy, June 21, 1775).
In 1777, at the height of the war, there were proposals to insure the American colonists would be disarmed if the war was won by the British. This proposal was floated by General William Knox, the British under Secretary of State:
The Militia Laws should be repealed and none suffered to be re-enacted, & the Arms of all the People should be taken away, & every piece of Ordnance removed into the King’s Stores, nor should any foundry or manufactory of Arms, Gunpowder, or Warlike Stores, be evre suffered in America, nor should any Gunpowder, Lead, Arms or Ordnance be imported into it without License; they will have but little need of such things for the future, as the King’s Troops, Ships Forts will be sufficient to protect them from any danger.
The Second Amendment was meant to defend against this sort of government power and overreach.
In a blatant attempt to re-write history, those who want a disarmed population claim the right to bear arms has been recently created by the Supreme Court in the Heller, McDonald, Caetano, and now Bruen decisions. They use the misleading claim the Supreme Court had never declared the Second Amendment to either: protect an individual right or protect the right to carry arms outside the home, until the decisions mentioned. They often claim the Second Amendment created the right to keep and bear arms.
Those claims are both misleading and/or false, depending on the precise wording. The Second Amendment did not create anything. It protected existing rights.
A large minority of people, perhaps a majority, believed the Second Amendment applied to the individual states, as well as the Federal government, before the Civil War. Perhaps the most famous of these was Chief Justice Taney of the Supreme Court, writing in the Dread Scott decision in 1857, about the dangers of recognizing black people as citizens (bold added):
It would give to persons of the negro race, who were recognised as citizens in any one State of the Union, the right to enter every other State whenever they pleased, singly or in companies, without pass or passport, and without obstruction, to sojourn there as long as they pleased, to go where they pleased at every hour of the day or night without molestation, unless they committed some violation of law for which a white man would be punished; and it would give them the full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went.
In 1833, two generations after the ratification of the Second Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled the Bill of Rights did not apply to state laws. The court case was Barron v. Baltimore. The Fourteenth amendment, passed after the Civil War, in 1868, was specifically crafted to overturn Barron.
The effect of the Second Amendment becomes obvious when one realizes the federal government did not pass any law infringing on the right to keep and bear arms from the time of ratification until the 1930's. Even then, the law was crafted in an attempt to circumvent the Second Amendment. While the Supreme Court, from time to time referenced the Second Amendment as protecting an individual right, there were no federal laws infringing on the right to keep and bear arms, until the infamous 1934 National Firearms Act and the 1938 Federal Firearms Act.
Without federal infringements, there were no Supreme Court cases to contest.
The Supreme Court gutted the Fourteenth Amendment after Reconstruction, refusing to enforce it, because there was no political will to do so. Enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment would have risked another Civil War to enforce minority rights of freed slaves in the South.
The Bill of Rights started to be enforced under the Fourteenth Amendment, gradually, about 1900, a generation after being ratified. The Progressives, who took and held power from 1932 on, were adamantly opposed to limits on Government power. They especially hated the Second Amendment. With Progressive judges in most of the federal courts, the Second Amendment was not incorporated under the Fourteenth Amendment until the McDonald decision until 2010.
The Heller and McDonald decisions do not create new rights. They restore rights which had been gradually infringed on by the States, and then the federal government. Up until 1968, Americans could order anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns and ammunition, through the mail, to be delivered to their door. Violent criminal use was virtually non-existent. Only one example is known.
As the infringements on rights protected by the Second Amendment mounted, the resistance to those infringements grew louder and stronger. The Supreme Court did not suddenly decide to enforce the rights protected by the Second Amendment. Rather, they reacted to the enormous, strong, persistent call for restoration of those rights by a loud and successful grass-roots movement, which could not be denied. Reinforcing the movement was voluminous scholarship showing how the Second Amendment had been gradually infringed, particularly after Reconstruction and during the Progressive era. By the time of the Bruen decision, half of the states had removed most of the infringements on the carry of handguns (Constitutional Carry, no permits required). There were no bad effects from this restoration of rights.
Two Decades of Constitutional Carry Progress
Leftists like to start history when Progressive ideology started to gain ascendance in academic and political circles, about 1900. That is when serious infringements against the rights protected by the Second Amendment became popular in some state legislatures, such as New York, and California. A poor decision by the Supreme Court of Kansas, in 1905, started the myth the Second Amendment was meant to protect a "collective right".
When Justice Clarence Thomas, in the Bruen decision, required historical evidence of accepted legislative practice in force when the Second Amendment was ratified, or to a lesser extent, the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, he prevented leftist ideologue judges from cutting history off at 1900, and claiming anything before then does not matter.
This is basic originalist and textualist Constitutional law. The text matters, to be interpreted in the meanings understood at the time the amendment was ratified.
A basic assumption of Progressives is the Constitution is outdated and has to be "worked around" or "interpreted" to reach conclusions judges wish to make today, based on their desires for the current society, or their desire to alter it.
The argument is: That was then. This is now. Things are different. Old agreements are invalid.
Consider trying to operate your life with that philosophy: You purchased a car insurance policy with a $100 deductible. When you submit a claim the response is: That was then. This is now. The deductible is now $500. Or, you agree to work a job. Your work is impeccable. The employer is not allowed to fire you because of your race, by law. Then, you are fired because you are white. That was then. This is now. You purchase a home. Payments are $1,000 a month. The bank suddenly says: Your payments are $2,000 a month, in violation of the mortgage agreement. That was then. This is now.
When you hear "arguments" such as:
Those are all "That was then, This is now", arguments. Essentially, the argument is: your rights can be disappeared anytime the powers that be want to do so, based on the exigencies of the moment.
The Constitution is a contract between the people, the federal government, and the states. There are means to amend it within the Constitutional framework.
The Constitution is not a document subject to That was then, This is now flimflam, no matter how much leftists/progressives wish it to be.
Propaganda claiming the right to keep and bear arms is a new right, created by the Supreme Court, are versions of the: That was then, this is now, argument.
The individual right to keep and bear arms both inside and outside the home, is not new. It existed before the Second Amendment. It has not been created recently. It is being restored.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) – A 35-year-old man is now dead after allegedly attempting to burglarize an ice cream shop on Lindsey and 12th Avenue SE.
Nearby business confirmed with News 4 the shooting took place at The Ice Creamatory.
Norman Police are releasing very few details about their investigation.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Criminal charges have been dropped against the owner of a Kansas City, Missouri-based security company who says he shot a man in self-defense last March.
Sidney Kile, who owns SK Security, said he was leaving his office near East 12th and McGee streets on March 31 with his girlfriend when the pair found a stranger sitting in his vehicle outside.
Kile, who is licensed to carry a firearm, drew a weapon and ordered the man to get out of the vehicle.
AmmoLand has been cited in the Angelo v. District of Columbia case. The case is a challenge of the constitutionality of a ban on carrying arms on public transportation in the District of Columbia.
The AmmoLand article is cited, and the illustration is shown, on page 27 of the Memorandum of Points and Authorities submitted to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, on October 30, 2022.
The article in AmmoLand about the illustration of the street car scene in New York came about in this manner:
The illustration was published on Freerepublic.com as part of a discussion about a proposed NY law to restrict ammunition by a Freeper with the screen name of Ruy Dias de Bivar, on post #24.
This correspondent inquired of the provenance of the image, and learned it came from The Remington Historical Treasury of American Guns, published in 1966.
This correspondent obtained a copy of the Remington Historical Treasury of American Guns, which credited the New York Public Library Picture Collection. The New York Library Picture Collection was contacted. They found a somewhat later version of the image was published in the Police Gazzette, on April 19, 1884.
A brother of this correspondent urged him to contact the attorneys in the case of Angelo v. D.C. The attorneys were contacted and were glad to receive the information.
On October 30, 2022, the Memorandum of Points and Authorities was submitted to the DC court electronically.
From the Memorandum:
In any event, Bruen is concerned not with what was common or uncommon social practice, but with the history and tradition of firearms regulation. And the quote DC posits, wherever it might have come from, assuming it actually came from somewhere, has no relation to carrying on transportation vehicles. Anecdotal evidence indicates gun carrying on public transportation was not unusual. The following illustration in the April 19, 1884, Police Gazette shows several passengers in a New York City horsecar with handguns. See Dean Weingarten, 1884 New York Street Car Scene Shows Carry of Pistols Common Before 1911, Ammoland (September 18, 2022) (Exhibit 6, hereto.)
For those interested in the details of the case, the memorandum is well worth reading. Those who have a pacer account can read it now. It should become available shortly at michellawyers.com and at courtlistener.com.
At 45 pages long, it is too much to post on AmmoLand. Here is part of the Summary of Argument:
Under these facts, Supreme Court precedent says that is sufficient to confer standing on them to contest the Metro ban. Plaintiffs meet all preliminary injunction requirements. They are likely to prevail on the merits because DC failed to point to established, representative “distinctly similar” restrictions from the founding era banning firearm carry on public transportation vehicles. Public transportation arose shortly after ratification of the Second Amendment and grew throughout the 19th Century to include ferry service, riverboats, omnibuses, commuter rail, interstate passenger rail and street cars. In the early 20th Century subway service developed. Defendants point to no laws prohibiting gun carry on these conveyances during the relevant period, much less an established tradition of banning gun carry on public transportation. That dooms DC Code § 7-2509.07(a)(6).
The Metro system is not analogous to schools or the Capitol grounds. The mere fact minors and government workers are present does not convert a public place into a sensitive place. If guns could be banned everywhere children or government workers might be, in no place in the city could Plaintiffs exercise their Second Amendment right to carry a firearm for personal protection. The Court should eschew opposing parties’ invitation to engage in interest balancing and focus instead on the Supreme Court’s requirement that DC demonstrate its regulation is consistent with he Nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation. See New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen,142 S.Ct 2111 (2022) (hereinafter “Bruen”). The District has not met that requirement. The few place restrictions DC and amici point to, other than the voting precincts, legislative assemblies, and courts Bruen discussed, were enacted in the late 19th Century and thus are far removed from the Second Amendment’s adoption, were enacted in only a few states and territories, were not long standing, and most importantly did not ban gun carry on public transportation.
The Bruen decision, written by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is clear. If restrictions on the exercise of rights protected by the Second Amendment were not common and accepted near the time of ratification of the Amendment or with less importance, near the time of ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, they are unconstitutional.
This correspondent expects the ban on carry on public transportation will be found to be unconstitutional.
©2022 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
OAK LAWN, Ill. — Police are looking for two suspects after a driver thwarted a carjacking in Oak Lawn on Wednesday.
The incident occurred just before 3:30 p.m. in the 6500 block of W. 89th Place. Police say the two armed suspects tried to steal a car but the driver had a gun and fired at about eight shots toward them.
The individuals took off in a black Jeep, which police later located in the 6200 block of W. 90th Street.
In what is likely to become a landmark case, the Fifth Circuit, in an en banc decision of all the judges in the circuit, struck down the ATF rule which changed the definition of a machinegun to include bump stocks. Thirteen judges were in the majority, with three judges dissenting. The case is Cargill v. Garland. This correspondent wrote about it previously. Here is a summation of how the sixteen judges ruled. From the opinion:
Of the sixteen members of our court, thirteen of us agree that an act of Congress is required to prohibit bump stocks, and that we therefore must reverse. Twelve members (Chief Judge Richman and udges Jones, Smith, Stewart, Elrod, Southwick, Haynes, Willett, Ho, Duncan, Engelhardt, and Wilson) reverse on lenity grounds. Eight members (Judges Jones, Smith, Elrod, Willett, Duncan, Engelhardt, Oldham, and Wilson) reverse on the ground that federal law unambiguously fails to cover non-mechanical bump stocks. Chief Judge Richman, Judge Stewart and Judge Southwick concur in the judgment and join in Part V, as does Judge Ho, who also writes separately. Judge Oldham concurs in the judgment and joins in Parts I–IV.A. Judge Haynes only concurs in the judgment and writes separately.
The opinion gives considerable detail about the history of the administrative rule change created by ATF, under pressure from the Trump administration. It shows the rule change stopped the momentum to pass a law banning bump stocks. This correspondent wrote, at the time, it was better to have the ATF use the rule making process, because it would be easier to overturn in the courts or for a future administration to overturn. Laws are far more difficult to undue. The intense pressure from the media to restrict anything to do with guns was severe. The country could have ended with very bad law, passed, as usual, by the left using an emotional event to pass law which made no sense for the purpose indicated. The Las Vagas event was an extremely rare abuse of bump stocks, a "black swan" event. The Fifth circuit opinion shows this history. From the opinion:
Public pressure to ban bump stocks was tremendous. Multiple bills to that effect were introduced in both houses of Congress. But before they could be considered in earnest, ATF published the regulation at issue here, short-circuiting the legislative process. Appellant Michael Cargill surrendered several bump stocks to the Government following publication of the regulation at issue. He now challenges the legality of that regulation, arguing that a bump stock does not fall within the definition of “machinegun” as set forth in federal law, and thus that ATF lacked the authority to issue a regulation purporting to define the term as such.
The opinion continues to show why the plaintiff, Cargill, is correct, and why the Constitution does not allow administrative agencies to make their own criminal law:
On page forty, the opinion sets forth a beautiful explanation of why courts are not allowed to make policy in our constitutional republic. From the opinion:Cargill is correct. A plain reading of the statutory language, paired with close consideration of the mechanics of a semi-automatic firearm, re-veals that a bump stock is excluded from the technical definition of “machinegun” set forth in the Gun Control Act and National Firearms Act.
But even if that conclusion were incorrect, the rule of lenity would still require us to interpret the statute against imposing criminal liability. A rich legal tradition supports the “well known rule” that “penal laws are to be con-strued strictly.” United States v. Wiltberger, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 76, 94–95(1820). As Chief Justice Marshall explained long ago, the rule “is founded on the tenderness of the law for the rights of individuals; and on the plain principle that the power of punishment is vested in the legislative, not in the judicial department. It is the legislature, not the Court, which is to define a crime, and ordain its punishment.”Id at 95.
The Government’s regulation violates these principles. As an initial matter, it purports to allow ATF—rather than Congress- to set forth the scope of criminal prohibitions. Indeed, the Government would outlaw bump stocks by administrative fiat even though the very same agency routinely interpreted the ban on machineguns as not applying to the type of bump stocks at issue here. Nor can we say that the statutory definition unambiguously supports the Government’s interpretation. As noted above, we conclude that it unambiguously does not. But even if we are wrong, the statute is at least ambiguous in this regard. And if the statute is ambiguous, Congress must cure that ambiguity, not the federal courts.
The definition of “machinegun” as set forth in the National Firearms Act and Gun Control Act does not apply to bump stocks. And if there were any doubt as to this conclusion, we conclude that the statutory definition is ambiguous, at the very least. The rule of lenity therefore compels us to construe the statute in Cargill’s favor. Either way, we must REVERSE.
Many commentators argue that non-mechanical bump stocks contribute to firearm deaths and that the Final Rule is good public policy. We express no opinion on those arguments because it is not our job to determine our nation’s public policy. That solemn responsibility lies with the Congress, and our task is confined to deciding cases and controversies, which requires us to apply the law as Congress has written it.13
The judges acknowledge they are reading the progressive arguments put forth in the old media, and feel compelled to respond to it. It shows how much influence the dominant media has in the judicial system.
Opinion:
Second Amendment activists take note: It is important to have your arguments before the public, as well as in the legal briefs.
There is an interesting bit of rhetoric about the Chevron doctrine
on page 29 of the opinion. It illustrates how insane the Chevron doctrine is. From page 29, explaining the "justification" for the Chevron doctrine:
The justification is that ‘“policy choices’ should be left to executive branch officials ‘directly accountable to the people.”’ Guedes, 140 S. Ct. at 790 (Gorsuch, J., statement respecting denial of certiorari) (quoting Epic Systems v. Lewis, 138 S. Ct. 1612, 1630 (2018) and Chevron, 467 U.S. at 865)).
This is opposite of reality. Executive branch officials in the administrative agencies are not directly accountable to the people at all. In fact, they have been deliberately insulated from being accountable. They are not elected. They cannot easily be fired. The whole doctrine of Progressivism, which spawned these unaccountable agencies is: the supposed uninterested "experts" act with pure hearts and motives. The theory is they have only the public interest at heart,
Administrative officials in the administrative agencies are not angels. They are men. They are self interested and have political motivations.
Politicians can pick the "experts" they want to get the policy decisions they want.
The Republic was far better served when legislative decisions were made in Congress, publicly debated, with self-interest available to public vision by a watchdog media.
The Congress has been severely corrupted since the Obama administration into a rubber stamp for a select few in the leadership. The "ongoing resolution" nonsense has removed the ability of the Congress to control agencies with the power of the purse.
The vast majority of the Media are all in partisans for the Left and Progressivism.
That is the subject for a different article.
The bump stock decision in the Fifth Circuit sets the stage for an appeal to the Supreme Court. It will be difficult for the Supreme Court to refuse to hear the case, because there will be a clear split in the circuit courts. Bump stocks will be legal in at least the Fifth Circuit. The ATF may be compelled to reimburse people who have been harmed by the illegal rule making.
In the Tenth Circuit, in the Aposhian case, motions have been filed citing new evidence, and the Fifth Circuit decision.
It seems likely the Biden administration will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. It is the only avenue left to them to defend the bump stock rule in the courts.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Pulaski County law enforcement said in October, Anderson reportedly walked out of his home early in the morning when he saw someone in his SUV parked in his driveway.
When Anderson opened the door to the vehicle, a confrontation occurred in which Anderson reportedly shot 49-year-old Gregory N. Ramsey.
Ramsey was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Pulaski County Coroner’s Office.
Anderson’s attorney told the Commonwealth Journal that the grand jury believed that Anderson acted in self-defense during the incident.
Kel-Tec P17 with Crimson Trace Optic and Suppressor at Shot Show 2023
Kel-Tec has announced the development of an optical mounting system for their P17 pistol. The plan appears to be to have the optic mounted at the factory on a Kel-Tec slide, manufactured for the pistol. The entire system would easily be interchanged with the existing slide. The optical system on the pistol at the Kel-Tec booth is a Crimson Trace, probably a CTS 1550 red dot sight. The suppressor does not come with the system. It is a GemTech Alpine .22 LR, privately owned by a Kel-Tec employee.
It is not certain, at this time, that the Crimson Trace optic will be the one bundled with the Kel-Tec slide for sale as an accessory. A different optic might be bundled. The Kel-Tec slides will be lightened by laser cutting "KELTEC" in the slide with lightening cuts above and below the letters.
This correspondent waited for nearly three years before purchasing a Kel-Tec P17 at retail, for only a little over the suggested manufacturers retail price. They have been an incredibly successful pistol. The success has been helped by the boom in the firearms market over the last three years. With a suppressor, my P17 has been reliable with subsonic .22 ammunition. Subsonic ammunition out of a suppessor makes the good P17 into a serious pleasure to shoot. CCI Quiet-semi-auto comes out of the system at 771 fps, with a 45 grain bullet, right at the ballistics of a .25 auto. For a small pistol, this is decent performance. It is quiet and reasonably accurate to 50 yards.
It will be interesting to see how much the optic system makes shooting easier. It will probably make the P17 into a small game gun to 25 yards, if the shooter can hold that well. Optics shine as making things easier for older eyes. They allow a shooter to concentrate on the target rather than trying to keep three objects (rear sight, front sight, and target) aligned and in focus. No eyes can focus on three objects at different distances, all at once. Young eyes, which are more flexible, and do a fair job of switching focus rapidly. Shooters, starting out find red dot sights easier to use than either iron sights or telescopic sights. A red dot allows a shooter to use the sight with a larger diameter suppressor, because the dot can have a higher line of sight than the stock adjustable open sights.
With optics, you do not have to focus on the front sight. Place the dot on the target, and release the trigger with minimum movement. It is the key to shot placement.
With the lightening cuts in the slide, the P17 with optics will not weigh more than the P17 without. Fully loaded, a P17 weighs about 14 ounces.
A price for the slide and optics has not been decided. It is expected to be less than $200. The Crimson Trace optic alone, has a suggested retail price of $180. It has been seen on sale for about $140. The sight, already mounted on a slide, available for under $200, does not seem unreasonable.
This correspondent has long believed a rifle deserves an optic which comes close to the value of the rifle. The price of a Kel-Tec P17, with an optical sight would be in the neighborhood of competitors without the sight. A reliable, reasonably accurate .22 pistol, with an optical sight, suppressor ready, which weighs less than a pound...
This correspondent thought is was possible. Kel-Tec is making them available for a reasonable price.
The reputation of Kel-Tec is: they show products, then people wait for months or years to obtain them. This is partly due to their success and the high demand for their product. At the Kel-Tec booth, they predicted the P17 optical system would be available by the end of 2023, possibly by the end of September, 2023.
The market for firearms is still strong. It is particularly strong for .22 pistols.
Unknown variables could delay market entry. It is much easier to delay entry than it is to accelerate availability.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
According to Toledo Police detectives, there will be no charges against a man accused of shooting and killing Issac Carpenter.
Carpenter’s mother Aviance Hill is still in shock that the death of her son was ruled as a justifiable shooting.
The Toledo Police Department released the surveillance video and further explained why the man who killed Carpenter was not charged.
David Griego, 71, was charged with second-degree murder and unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon, according to online court records. Griego was found guilty on the misdemeanor weapons charge but acquitted of murder. A trespassing charge was also dismissed.
A news release from 4th Judicial District Attorney Thomas Clayton’s office Wednesday stated the facts of the case were not in dispute, but rather Griego’s motive for killing 66-year-old John Serna.
“The defendant claimed self-defense — asserting the past history between himself and Serna and alleged that Serna attacked him with a rock on that morning,” the release read.
Brayden said he stood there watching the door as the outside door opened. He knew if it was a delivery service dropping off a package that they would leave it there.
But when the intruder started opening the inside door, he says he loaded the gun.
“I didn’t say anything but when I cocked the gun back and pointed it at the door, he said, ‘Oh (expletive),’ and ran,” Brayden said.
Industry day at the range started cool, windy, and wet.
On Monday, January 16, 2023, Industry day at the range started with cool temperatures, gusty wind, and rain showers. It was the worst conditions at the range day since 2019. The day gives media and industry insiders a chance to look at new products at the range, shoot new guns, ammunition and accessories, and to talk with industry representatives as they showcase their products.
Checking the weather forecast, this correspondent was prepared with warm, weather resistant clothes, high-tech hunting pants, work boots, and layered wind and water resistant jacket with fleece underneath.
Some new products caught the eye, out of dozens of booths. Ear and eye protection were mandatory. RIA (Rock Island Armory, USA) has a new semi-auto 9mm, mostly handmade, with an innovative locking system. The RIA 50 is made entirely in the USA at the new manufacturing plant in Utah.
Kel-Tec is soon to be offering a slide which is optics capable for their popular P17 .22 LR pistol. It is an option this correspondent thought a natural for years. To lighten the slide to accept the optic, KELTEC is lazer cut into the slide. The slide is easily replaced on existing Kel Tec P17 pistols, for those who have desired an optical sight on the popular little pistol.
The new product is likely to be a hit. Kel-Tec P17 pistols have been hard to come by for three years. Kel Tec will be offering a carbine version of their 5.7 caliber P50 pistol. The carbine was available at the range. Attendees were firing the carbine with a suppressor attached to the muzzle of a 16 inch barrel. The report had a supersonic snap, which wasn't very loud. On an open range, with significant wind, the noise of reports is naturally diminished.
The P17 pistol, even with a suppressor is so light, the representatives had covered it up to keep it from blowing off the table.
The wind picked up as the day went on. By noon, displays were being blown off of tables. Business cards were blown down range. Conversation became occasionally difficult.
Browning ammunition, at the Winchester booth, is coming out with a new subsonic, 45 grain .22 LR designed to be subsonic out of pistols. It produces about 100 foot pounds of energy at 1060 fps. It will likely go supersonic out of rifles. It will be sold in 100 round boxes. This correspondent looks forward to trying some, once it becomes available.
Industry representatives were in good humor. Range noises varied from full auto to whisper quiet .22 suppressors with subsonic ammunition.
The conditions were less than ideal, but many innovative products were on display. This correspondent noticed on suppressor exhibitor was using CCI Quiet .22 with his suppressor on a Ruger full sized .22 pistol. The subsonic round is especially quiet to start; it did not seem much of a challenge to have a very quiet report shooting it through any suppressor.
Several different exhibitors were showing their wares with suppressed firearms.
Suppressed firearms are the wave of the future.
Industry day at the range shows Shot Show is rebounding nicely from the Covid confusion. Exhibitors and Media had a good time, in spite of the weather.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Chicago police say they know who fatally shot a man outside a South Side liquor store and shot a woman who was sitting on a nearby CTA bus in December. But prosecutors refused to charge the suspect with shooting either person due to “self-defense,” according to court records and the man’s defense attorney.
Instead, Juan Ferba, 26, is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm — the gun officials say video footage shows him using to shoot both people.
New Hartford, N.Y. — After an Applebees worker was slashed in the face by a man with a knife a diner stepped in and held the man at gunpoint Saturday, police said.
Esteban Padron, 28, entered the Applebees on Commercial Drive in New Hartford at 6:42 p.m. and started fighting with workers, according to a news release from the New Hartford police department.
Dark SUV (Mazda CX-9) stopped at stop light in Quartzsite, AZ, January 15, 2023
I had a close brush with death on the way to the Shot Show on Sunday. It was a dull day, overcast with a chance of pending rain, further north.
This correspondent was on his way to Las Vegas, Nevada, to cover the Shot Show on Sunday, January 15, 2023. I had gone to early service at my church, and was traveling North on state Highway 95, a mostly two lane road. There are several passing lanes on the route between Yuma and Quartzsite, AZ. That leg of the trip is about 85 miles. It is mostly open desert controlled by Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) and the KOFA Wildlife refuge. I had made the trip thousands of times as far as YPG and over a hundred times further north.
It happened between milepost 99 and milepost 100, at just about noon. A little earlier, the speed limit had dropped from 65 mph, to 55 mph. I had experienced a speed trap approaching Quartzsite years earlier, and did not wish to pay a fine of a couple hundred dollars. I dropped my speed from a bit under 70 to 57 mph. The big pickup with a loaded flat bed trailer behind me had to slow as well, but he crept up on me to about 80 feet, closer than I would like.
Oncoming traffic was fairly busy, as is usual in January on Highway 95, with lots of big pickups hauling fifth wheel trailers, diesel pusher 40 foot RVs, and plenty of smaller vehicles heading south. Presumably they were snow birds coming down for the winter weather.
A big RV was approaching in the south bound lane, heading south. Most that I observed in the north bound lane were traveling at or slightly under the speed limit, probably to conserve fuel.
Suddenly, a flash to my left. A dark SUV is passing from behind, in the south bound lane, heading north, heading directly at the oncoming RV. The SUV is traveling close to a hundred mph. The RV has its lights on. I do not think it ever saw the dark SUV in time to react. The RV did not appear to brake or slow down.
I barely had time to lift my foot from the gas pedal as the right rear of the SUV crossed the centerline in front of me, at less than 30 feet. I did not have time to contemplate as the left front fender of the SUV crossed the centerline, no more than 50 feet from the oncoming RV, missing it by not more than a couple of feet. The closing speed of the two vehicles was about 150 mph.
It was over. Start to finish, at most a second. The SUV driver probably never saw me, screened by the truck behind me. The RV driver probably never saw the SUV, a dark vehicle on a dark road on a dark day, coming from behind the truck with the trailer. The SUV may not have had its lights on. The driver may have counted on the RV to brake to let him in. It was a very close call.
If the two had impacted, momentum could have carried the SUV away and out into the desert. I might have avoided impact with debris, and not been involved. More likely, it would have been a three vehicle pile-up. The passenger cage protection in modern vehicles is very good. If everyone was buckled in, everyone might have survived. It is not the way to bet.
A few miles further on, at the stop light in Quartzsite, a dark Mazda CX-9 was in the lane left and one vehicle ahead of me. It looked like the SUV from milepost 99-100. Right color, right shape. I have blotted out part of the license plate. I could not testify in court it was the same. Over the miles, it could have turned off of 95, and another, similar car turned on to take its place. Not likely, but possible. If you look in the mirror of my vehicle, in the picture, you can see a dark vehicle on the dark road behind me. It illustrates the lack of contrast.
Man's life on this earth is short and full of troubles. I had plenty of time to consider mortality on the way to the Shot Show. I have seen death near Highway 95. Several years ago, I saw a young woman dying, bleeding out of her mouth and nose and ears from severe trauma in a single vehicle crash on the road to YPG. Others were already there, sirens coming on. Death is seldom pretty. There have been plenty of fatal crashes on AZ 95.
There has been much to see and do at the Shot Show, already. A report on Industry day at the ranch is coming soon.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
Investigators learned that the man got into an argument with two JumpStart employees after he was asked to leave the business. The man refused and got into fight with the employees, according to Rebolledo.
One of the employees pulled out a handgun and “fired at the suspect after the suspect began to attack him a second time,” a police news release read.
An armed mother in Iowa fended off two people who attempted to take her son while in a Des Moines skywalk, by drawing her gun, according to reports.
Fox station KDSM in Des Moines, Iowa reported that two people, later identified as Michael Ernest Ross, 43, and Laurie Lynn Potter, 57, repeatedly walked in front of the Hubbell Tower Apartments door on Jan. 5.
Apartment manager Shay Lindberg, whose son was at her side, eventually opened the door to ask Ross and Potter if there was a problem. Then, one of the two attempted to snatch the child, but Lindberg was armed.
Robert Rheams from Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office
At about 5 a.m. on the morning of January 8, 2023, a career criminal broke into a home occupied by a mother and two young children, according to police who were called to the scene in a trailer park in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. From the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office:
The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office reports one subject is deceased following a home invasion at a Hammond residence, which occurred in the early morning hours of January 8, 2023.
Chief Jimmy Travis says deputies responded to reports of shots fired at a residence on Klein Road shortly after 5:00 AM on Sunday. During the course of the investigation, detectives were able to determine the suspect, later identified as 51 year old Robert Rheams of Hammond, was armed with a shovel and a lug wrench when he forced entry into the home of the victim and her two young children.
During the incident, a physical altercation took place between Rheams and the homeowner which ultimately led to Rheams being shot by the homeowner. Rheams was later pronounced deceased on scene by the Tangipahoa Parish Coroner's Office.
At the time of the incident, Rheams was out on parole after serving approximately 20 years in prison for armed robbery. Detectives have also been able to tie Rheams to a carjacking which occurred hours prior to the home invasion.
Chief Travis adds that as of this time, no arrests were made in this investigation. Once the investigation is complete, the case will be forwarded to the District Attorney's Office for further review.
Chief Travis concludes by adding this case appears to be a homeowner exercising second amendment rights to protect herself and her children from a violent home invasion.
The shooting of Robert Rheams, 51 years old and recently released on parole, by a mother defending herself and two children, has caught the public imagination and garnered significant news coverage. Rheams reportedly was armed with a shovel and a lug wrench. Those implements are readily capable of being used as weapons to cause serious injury or death. Rheams was first sent to prison on a drug violation. The last conviction was for armed robbery.
Opinion:
It is no small thing to end a human life. Our society, with its Christian/Judeo ethics, considers all lives to be worth saving. The ethics extend to the necessity of saving your own life and the lives of other from those who would do them severe harm or kill them.
Robert Rheams showed himself to be a danger to other humans. Other humans have the right and the responsibility to end that danger.
©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
