I thought this was interesting. This is where shooting sports supplies are as of today.
Interesting status report from Valley Guns in West Virginia :
Status of gun industry
Attention F.B. fans: to follow will be several IMPORTANT Info updates about the status of the gun industry currently, followed by an INVENTORY UPDATE: We traveled to Texas for Industry meetings concerning the shortages, here's what we were told.
Smith & Wesson-is running at Full capacity making 300+ guns/day-mainly M&P pistols. They are unable to produce any more guns to help with the shortages.
RUGER: Plans to increase from 75% to 100% in the next 90 days.
FNH: Moving from 50% production to 75% by Feb 1st and 100% by March 1.
Remington-Maxed out!
Armalite: Maxed out.
DPMS: Can't get enough parts to produce any more product.
COLT: Production runs increasing weekly...bottle necked by Bolt carrier's.
LWRC:Making only black guns, running at full capacity...can't get enough gun quality steel to make barrels.
Springfield Armory: Only company who can meet demand but are running 30-45 days behind.
AMMO: Every caliber is now Allocated! We are looking at a nation wide shortage of all calibers over the next 9 months. All plants are producing as much ammo as possible w/ of 1 BILLION rounds produced weekly. Most is military followed by L.E. and civilians are third in line.
MAGPUL is behind 1 MILLION mags, do not expect any large quantities of magpul anytime soon.
RELOADERS... ALL Remington, Winchester, CCI & Federal primers are going to ammo FIRST. There are no extra's for reloading purposes... it could be 6-9 months before things get caught up. Sorry for the bleak news, but now we know what to expect in the coming months. Stay tuned, we'll keep you posted...
Related commentary from Bob Owens :
They didn’t know when they’d be getting anything back in stock, from magazines to rifles to pistols. Manufacturers were running full-bore, but couldn’t come close to keeping up with market demand. It wasn’t just the AR-15s, the AK-pattern rifles, the M1As, and the FALs that were sold out. It really hit me when I realized that the World War-era M1 Garands, M1 carbines, and Enfield .303s were gone, along with every last shell. Ubiquitous Mosin-Nagants—of which every gun store always seems to have 10-20—were gone. So was their ammo. Only a dust free space marked their passing. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Every weapon of military utility designed within the past 100+ years was gone. This isn’t a society stocking up on certain guns because they fear they may be banned. This is a society preparing for war.
Barack Obama, Dianne Feinstein and the rest of the Statists have done more to promote gun ownership than the NRA ever did. Well done, Democrats!
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2013/01/update-status-of-gun-industry.html
This is a product line of thread lockers and glues that is often mis-reported as to use. Most often, the recommended product is referred to by color only. I've done that because when you go to the actual product numbers people's eyes start to glaze over and it is obvious you are losing their interest. Via my friend Tycer L____ is some good info on the subject.
- 271, Red: High strength threadlocker for larger diameter hardware.
- 262, Red: High strength threadlocker for for hardware smaller than that which uses 271 (more like heli parts). Either does a good job for our stuff, however. I see 271 most commonly in auto parts stores.
- 609, Green: Retaining compound, high strength, for mounting slip fit bearings to shafts. An appropriate product for tail boxes.
- 603, Green: Retaining compound, high strength, similar to 609 but good where the parts may be a little oily. Good for mounting oilite bushings in housings, BTW.
- 640: Green: Retaining compound, high strength. Similar to 609 and 603. Lacks the oil tolerance of 603. I use it where I might have trouble with adjacent bearing contamination with the product, such as start shaft bearing blocks, since it has a little greater viscosity than 603.
- 638, Green, rather thick: Ultra strong retaining compound for assemblies with a marked amount of slop in the fit, min 0.004". Don't try to use this stuff for our normal bearings on healthy shafts. It sets almost immediately in the tight gap, and you'll never have the chance to get the bearing into place.
- 290, Green: Wicking product for thread locking AFTER assembly. Medium strength, much stronger than 242 blue in my experience. Not the correct choice per loctite for bearing mounting.
- 242, 243 Blue: Classic medium strength threadlocker for most of our threadlocking applications. 243 is the oil tolerant version.
- 222MS, Purple: Low strength threadlocker for small diameter or otherwise delicate fasteners.
It was a pretty good day today. Not too busy, but it was busy. I think people are getting the word that we're just about out of stuff. We got a resupply of Glock pistols and promptly sold two. No ARs but there is an AK-47 type rifle. No Mini-14s (they were marked at $1400 at the local gun show this past weekend). We are starting to run out of primers, we've only got Federal Match in Small Pistol primers. We have no .22 LR except for the match/target stuff. We got some 9mm ball but we're rapidly moving through that even though we're limiting buyers to 2 boxes. We have some nice revolvers in the shop. We have Smith and Wesson Model 63 (4") and a 37 (3") both with boxes. We have a Smith and Wesson 16-4 (4") and we have a Colt Police Positive transitional/flat latch (4") in .38 S&W. Nothing really special came in or happened today. It is pretty difficult to just keep up with the volume of business we've been doing.
Gun show today. Line at 10:00 when they opened. Had to wait about 20 minutes to get in. There were ARs and some of the high demand ammo available even after yesterday. NO .22 LR except match ammo. One dealer actually had .22 Shorts though. I bought 3 boxes of .348 Winchester (2 of Silvertips). Yes, I have brass and 9+ boxes of Hornady 200 gr. bullets but I wanted a baseline for reloading and I thought it would help sell the rifle after I'm dead. Lots of disgust with politicians expressed while waiting in the line. NRA table was mighty busy.
As with most cartridges created by the big firearms firms, the .348 Winchester had its foundations in marketing. Winchester had a problem. First, soldiers returning from the great war were enamored of the bolt action rifle and the ballistics of the .30-06 cartridge. Second, there was a desire to continue with Winchester's "trademark" line of lever-actions. So, the ideal thing would be to put .30-06 ballistics in a lever-action. Apparently, the Model 1895 just hadn't done it for the public with a magazine that was right where the balance point meant that one should put one's hand when carrying the gun.
I have a Browning 1895 and I think it carries well enough but it doesn't feel in the hand the way that shooters were accustomed. Although the 1895 was chambered for the .30-06 cartridge, I have read of accounts of lengthening headspace and problems with the cartridge in the rifle. I don't know if those reports are true or if they really impacted sales. Another problem was that the 1895 didn't look right with that magazine. I don't think that bothered performance oriented users, one sees the rifle in almost universal use in some law enforcement circles. Then, too, a lot of the production of the gun came during the first world war and went to the Russian military.
Winchester had other problems as well. The continuing depression meant that there wasn't a desire to put a lot of money into development of another rifle or cartridge. So, Winchester made what they thought would be a double good move and modernize the 1886 rifle (i.e. redesign it internally to reduce production cost), continuing what they'd begun with the 1886 extra lightweight in .45-70 and .33 Winchester, while at the same time improving the ballistics of the .30-something cartridge with the .348 Winchester.
A .50-110 cartridge case was modified with taper (for easy feeding while retaining good case capacity) topped with 150-250 grain bullets and chambered to a slightly modified 1886 rifle dubbed the Model 71. Ballistic realities intruded to defeat the popular acceptance of the 150 and 250 grain bullets and the 200 grain bullet at about 2500 fps from the 24" barreled rifle came to dominate sales. The current Winchester .348 factory load (if you can find it) uses a 200 grain Silvertip bullet (SD .236) at a muzzle velocity (MV) of 2520 fps from a 24" barrel. The muzzle energy (ME) of this load is 2820 ft. lbs. The figures at 200 yards are 1931 fps and 1656 ft. lbs. The trajectory of the Winchester factory load looks like this: +1.4" at 100 yards, 0 at 150 yards, -3.4" at 200 yards, and -9.2" at 250 yards. The big case meant that one could easily attain these .30-06 sort of ballistics while keeping pressures relatively low and the tapered case ran through the action with ease. The power of the cartridge ensured that it had a following among hunters of the largest game but it wasn't too powerful for use on whitetail deer. This made the cartridge just popular enough to hang around, sometimes just barely, since it was introduced in 1936. Sometimes it seems that the wildcatting and reforming uses of the brass were the only reason that production of the .348 cartridge continued at all but it has and in 1987 Browning saw fit to bring back the rifles in 20" and 24" barreled versions. This is the rifle I finally acquired.
Browning made 4,000 20" carbines and 3,000 24" rifles in standard grade, and 3,000 of each in deluxe grade. Made by Miroku in Japan as were the Browning 1892, 1886, and 1895 rifles and carbines, these are excellent firearms. Fit and finish is outstanding. The wood is lacking "figure" but that's fine on a working firearm where the sturdiness of the stock is far more important than appearance. These rifles, produced by adoptees of the metric system, do not have the same threads on any of the threaded parts as on the Winchester Model 71 so parts aren't often interchangeable.
Seller's photo of the Browning M71 Carbine
My "rifle" is the "carbine", i.e. it has the 20" barrel. I am one of those oddities of the shooting world who likes the shorter barrels and is willing to accept the ballistic limitations one gets. It has the feel of a bulldog between the hands. The stock seems to fit me well and the sights naturally align with the eye when the gun is shouldered. It seems heavier than my Browning 1886 SRC. Like the 1886, it will soon have a Williams Foolproof receiver sight.
The Schwarzlose Model 1908 was a semi-automatic pistol, designed by Andreas Schwarzlose, produced in Germany from 1908 until 1911. These were chambered for the .32 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP) also known as the 7.65mm Browning. The pistol uses a blow-forward action in which the barrel is blown forward and the action spring drives it back to pick up a cartridge from the magazine and the breach doesn't move.
A magazine recently had an article on this seldom seen firearm and I'm intrigued. I've always wanted one of these old school, small, .32 ACP pistols anyway. So I went looking for one.
What I found is that there weren't many looking for a buyer but because of what they are they aren't bringing big prices. Somewhere between $350 and $550 depending on condition seems to be the going rate for these. Of course you would still have to find one for sale!
The shop is down to 10 boxes of CCI SGB @$7.99 a box and match ammo. We have .22 WRM, .22 WRF, .17 HMR and that is all. The last box of .22 shorts went out the door this morning and it was an old yellow Winchester box. I am told that NOBODY has any from Harrisonburg to Roanoke. I have enough for myself because I saw this coming. I believe I might have mentioned it a time or two.
We are getting in some firearms but even with re-supply I think we are down to about 30 center-fire pistols and fewer revolvers of any chambering. Since we have no modern sporting rifles the 10/22 is the next thing and every one that comes in leaves pretty much the same day. We sell a minimum of 16 firearms every day which is much more than we used to do. If he can get product the boss might be able to pay off the shop this year.
January 15, 2013
There are two Supreme Court rulings that directly relate to the current
anti-Assault Weapon issue everyone needs to be reminded of.
The first is United States v. Miller 1939. Miller possessed a sawed-off
shotgun banned under the National Firearms Act. He argued that he had a
right to bear the weapon under the Second Amendment, but the Supreme
Court ruled against him. Why? At the time, sawed-off shotguns were not
being used in a military application, and the Supremes ruled that since
it didn't, it was not protected. Even though Miller lost that
argument, the Miller case set the precedent that protected firearms have
a military, and thus a legitimate and protected Militia use. The
military now uses shotguns regularly, but not very short, sawed-off
shotguns, but an AR-15/AK-47 type weapon is currently in use by the
military, therefore it is a protected weapon for the Unorganized
Militia, which includes just about every American citizen now that both
age and sex discrimination are illegal. (The original Militia included
men of age 17-45) Therefore any firearm that is applicable to military
use is clearly protected under Article II, and that includes all those
nasty-looking semi-automatic black rifles, including full 30 round
magazines.
The second important case is that of John Bad Elk
v. United States from 1900. In that case, an attempt was made to arrest
Mr. Bad Elk without probable cause, and Mr. Bad Elk killed a policeman
who was attempting the false arrest. Bad Elk had been found guilty and
sentenced to death. However, the Supreme Court ruled that Bad Elk had
the right to use any force, including lethal force, to prevent his false
arrest, even if the policeman was only trying to arrest him and not
kill him. Basically, the Supremes of the day ruled that as a citizen,
you have the right to defend against your civil rights being violated
using ANY force necessary to prevent the violation, even if the
offending party isn't trying to kill you.
Both of these cases are standing law to this day.
The Miller decision clearly includes AR-15/AK-47 type weapons as having
a military application. The Bad Elk decision means that if the
government tries to confiscate your AR-15/AK-47, or arrest you for
having one, you can kill the offenders on the spot, even if they are not
trying to kill you.
I didn't make these decisions; the United States Supreme Court did.
If you want to know, they're here. At any given time, it shows every plane in the sky, in the whole world. I'm surprised this info is available to the general public. Every day,we see planes in the sky, sometimes very high.. with or without con-trails. If you want to know about them,you can see all the information instantly...on your screen. Click on the link, FlightRadar24.com.
Some tricks: On the map you will see all the planes in the air. To view your region or town, you can zoom in by tapping with your mouse. Click on a airplane, and on the left screen you will get all the info; airline, type, speed, altitude in real time, re-calculated, every 10 seconds. On some you can even get a view from the cockpit!
I bought, several years ago now, a Freedom Arms 97 in .44 Special. At the time I really wanted a .45 Colt because I wanted an example of the best .45 Colt single-action revolvers made in the US. The .44 Special was sort of a stop-gap and a redirection to the .44 Special cartridge for my "best single-actions" collection. I have Ruger and USFA but still no Colt and until now, no Freedom Arms gun.
Then, the other day, Glen F______ unexpectedly listed this one for sale. "Unexpectedly" is important here as I didn't have quite enough for the gun thusly described.
Premier Grade Freedom Arms Model 97, .45 Colt, 4 1/4" barrel, complete with box, manuals, 2 spare front sights (different heights to allow for a wide range of bullet weights), and 2 custom made holsters (made by Tracker Leather, out of Sisters, Oregon -- one RH leather vertical belt holster, and one RH leather shoulder holster). $1600 shipped to FFL. Pictures available upon request. First "I'll take it" posted here gets it. If no takers by next Monday, I will put it on consignment here in a local shop.
This gun set up this way with fluted cylinder, micarta stocks and the extra front sights is $2173.50. Add the holsters and you have a real deal. THEN Glen threw in a Simply Rugged holster. What a guy! What a gun! Then I had to wait!
Glen was kind enough to pass on some other information on the revolver:
Tracker Leather Holsters
The shoulder holster is a clever design that can be worn several ways. It's currently set up to go over the left shoulder (only), but it can also be set up to go over the head and shoulder as either a shoulder holster (i.e. under the arm) or a cross-draw over the belly. The belt holster is a traditional vertical rig, with an added "semi-pancake" loop which snugs the holster up to the hip quite nicely. It rides very well. They are both very well made.
The timing and lock up are tight -- classic Freedom Arms.
The throats are a snug .452", smooth and uniform throat to throat, and match up with the groove diameter nicely (I haven't measured it, but I *think* it's a .451" groove diameter) I have shot a wide variety of cast bullet loads in this gun and have had ZERO leading. I generally size cast bullets .451" since some cast bullet designs (with lots of bearing surface forward of the crimp groove) can be sticky to chamber if sized .452" (recall the close tolerances that FA uses to cut their chambers -- brass and loading dies are not held to the same tolerances, so if the crimp results in a slightly off-center .452" bullet, it won't go into a concentric .452" throat). I kept meaning to try some .4515" cast bullets in it, but I never got off my duff to do those experiments. For bullets with little or no bearing surface forward of the case mouth (e.g. the classic 250 grain RN-FP), this is a non-issue.
FA added the .45 Colt to the line up after they had already started production of the Model 97. The cylinder length is long enough to accept any round loaded to SAAMI OAL specs. Factory ammo and jacketed bullets generally conform to this spec (in terms of OAL or cannelure location), and so are no problem. Cast bullets may, or may not. The Keith 454424 SWC does not, and if crimped in the crimp groove, the loaded round is too long to fit within the cylinder (i.e. the nose pokes out the front). You can seat the Keith SWC deep and crimp over the forward driving band, if you'd like. The classic 250 grain RNFP works just fine, as does the 452423 and the SAECO 300 grain GC-SWC. I am sure there are others, I just stopped looking after I found these 3 worked. I can give you dimensions, if you want dimensions.
FA used the same 1 in 24" twist rate in this barrel that they used in the 454. Very cast bullet friendly. However at the slower velocities that this gun opereates at (relative to the Casull), accuracy is not at the same spectacular level that we've come to associate with the 454 unless you step things up somewhat, or move to lighter bullets. I've gotten my best results with velocities over 1000 fps (and a 300 grain bullet at 1000 fps out this light 5-shot revolver will definitely get your attention!). Not to worry, the metallurgy of the FA M97 is such that this little gun will handle any pressures that the large-frame Ruger Blackhawk will (confirmed by John Taffin), but my hands/wrists will not!
There are some very interesting moderate weight RNFP's that have come out for cowboy shooting (200-225 grains) that look like they might be just perfect for the FA M97. Again, I haven't tested them, but I think they have great promise. Lee have a couple that look great.
Needless to say, this is a bunch of good info that can be trusted. Glen is a well known cast bullet "expert" and has experimented and written extensively on the subject. I do have some bullets on hand that I want to try even if I do have to crimp over the driving band. If they will work so loaded in my other .45 Colt revolvers that is all to the good as I'll be able to stick with a single load for all of them and won't have to change things up if I decide to sell a couple.
I'm very much looking forward to being able to carry this gun. The 97s are as easy to carry as just about anything and the .45 Colt cartridge can handle any game or "critters" I am likely to encounter.
In NAZI Germany, not that far away from your grandparents' lives, people would be called to mass meetings to here the NAZI leaders speak and to demonstrate their obedience. The NAZIs were bad, bad people who murdered others because they were different (handicapped, mentally ill, Jewish, Catholic, homosexual, or who disagreed with them). To not salute took some fair amount of courage. You should not submit to such tyranny.
Nana listened to the President's "ground breaking" speech on gun control and his efforts to end violence in America. He is prepared to use the force of the government against the law-abiding to prevent the criminals and crazy people from hurting children. Nana joined the NRA half-way through this speech. Here's the 23 things he is going to do and about which he signed executive orders today. Of course he also brought some kids up on stage to show he liked kids.
1. Issue a presidential memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system. The implication is that they do not do so at this time. What data would that be? Arrests? Investigations? Mention in an investigation? Somebody who was body cavity searched by the TSA?
2. Address unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system. Like those prohibiting doctors from asking if you own a firearm.
3. Improve incentives for states to share information with the background check system. Funding the infrastructure changes to allow the computers to share data?
4. Direct the attorney general to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks. Such as adding to or expanding the definitions of prohibited persons? Would this be like adding soldiers, still serving, who have been treated for PTSD?
5. Propose rule-making to give law enforcement the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.This would presumably be the same background NICS check done according to the law on transfers.
6. Publish a letter from ATF to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.You know, just in case Congress can be blackmailed into passing legislation requiring such checks for private sales.
7. Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign. Like the Eddy Eagle campaign?
8. Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission). Better locks? Preparing for a requirement that owners must have gun safes (as opposed to security containers even)?
9. Issue a presidential memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.The implication is that they aren't doing that now, but they are in an attempt to return that property to their rightful owners. I have such a gun, seized and returned to the person from whom it was stolen.
10. Release a Department of Justice report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and make it widely available to law enforcement. Do they not release these reports now? Are they secret?
11. Nominate a new director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Did he FINALLY find somebody who was qualified and not a crook?
12. Provide law enforcement, first-responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations. They sure do need that. As it is now, schools put too much faith in door locks and cinderblock walls.
13. Maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime. Oh, you mean such as actually prosecuting those who are denied by NICS when they try to buy a gun? Actually prosecuting felons caught in possession of firearms? Funny, but none of these shooters was a felon.
14. Issue a presidential memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research the causes and prevention of gun violence. How about a look into the effects of these psychotropic drugs. Almost every one of these "mass" killers has been on one or another (or several).
15. Direct the attorney general to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun-safety technologies and challenge the private sector to develop innovative technologies. Technology from companies bankrupted by Obamacare and tax increases...
16. Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors from asking their patients about guns in their homes. In other words, change the law.
17. Release a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities. And presumably that the law won't prohibit them lying about it or misrepresenting the risk due to a personal dislike for an individual. You do know that the psychiatrists were a big help to the Soviets in dealing with their political opposition, aka dissidents, don't you?
18. Provide incentives for schools to hire school-resource officers. That means money.
19. Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education. Necessary to do before offering the training mentioned earlier.
20. Release a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover. Will that include institutionalization, you know, to remove the nuts from society?
21. Finalize regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within ACA exchanges. Didn't they just say this?
22. Commit to finalizing mental-health parity regulations. What, again with health care? Isn't this really just one item rather than 4?
23. Launch a national dialogue led by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan on mental health. I've got your "dialog". Stay the hell out of my private business and quit trying to find excuses to control everything I do, think, or say.
We were mighty busy today. Boss man says that it was about average for a day since 14 December 2012. We did EIGHT times the usual business in dollars and had 14 background checks. We should be slowing down just before a moderate up tick as tax refunds come in and then as spring turkey season approaches but it continues to run as hard as we possibly can give what we have in stock. AR sales have supposedly slowed, but we sold all we had as soon as somebody knew they were here. Stripped uppers continue to fly out the door. The big thing is handguns. We had a big re-supply on Glocks but were down to just 3 at the end of the day. One S&W M&P semi-auto, a couple Ruger SR9s, and even revolvers, especially concealed carry suitable guns, have sold leaving the cases with a noticeably empty look.
Who is buying? Well, you can't put it down to any one group except that group they used to call "the silent majority". People who just struggle/work through life as best they can, living life the way their parents told them that God wanted them to live. 21-92, male and female, of all races and economic levels. One 84-year old came in and said she wanted "thirty-eight" ammo for her mother's gun. She told us that she'd never shot it, that her mother had never shot it but that she needed the ammo to "exercise my second amendment rights."
We did have several people come in asking for paperwork to join the NRA. We got it for them. Presumably they are among the 250,000+ people who have joined this week. I want Nana to join. I think she's waiting on Obama's speech which is supposed to be Wednesday. We'll see.
Meanwhile, those who couldn't afford a gun apparently decided to start buying ammunition, like the aforementioned 84-year old woman. We are starting to run out of .22 LR and 7.62x39. Primers were flying off the shelves. Certain powders are gone, gone, gone.
BE PREPARED! At least that's how I remember the Boy Scouts' motto. It makes sense. If riding around in the winter, be prepared to have to walk or stand in the cold. Have a coat, decent shoes and socks so that your feet won't freeze. Be smart. Hot days? Have some water to drink or at least know where you can get some. Whatever you do, don't ignore what is happening around you and be prepared to deal with it.
I've been saying this for years with regard to your shooting supplies. Some of the folks who asked me for advice didn't take it and in 2008 they had to scramble. Others asked if I thought that would repeat, I said yes but they ignored me and now THEY are scrambling as well.
As soon as 2 hours after the Sandy Hook School shooting by a deranged man who we now know was on some sort of psychotropic drug(s), some politicians were calling for gun control and many people saw the writing on the wall. After the shooting at the theater in Aurora, Colorado (another young man on psychotropic drugs) they knew that all bets were off. Since the initial reports were rapidly being skewed towards blaming "assault" rifles for the shooting many people saw the writing on the wall and decided to get theirs while they could. The fear of the ban soon extended to anything with a magazine capacity of over 10-rounds and the magazines to feed them. Then it extended, in some regions, to the ammunition for those firearms. As the politicians ramped up their hyperbole in their everlasting search for something to make them necessary and relevant, more and more items were perceived as endangered by a ban.
Then, Senator Diane Feinstein of California, a perennially hypocritical supporter of gun control for the masses (but not for herself or her bodyguards) made her ever-ready bill public. Apparently she gave the pro-gun people a bone and removed the anti-grandfather clause (more likely because she knows the government hasn't the money to actually pay for the guns already out there as required by the constitution) and changed it to an NFA type tax (actually higher at $250 per firearm). Now people aren't just buying all they can, they are getting angry. One now commonly hears the famous refrain uttered by Charlton Heston, "...from my cold dead hands."
I don't think this is simply macho rhetorical posturing either. The sentiment seems to be accepted by many women as well. There is also a component of realistic expectation associated with the statement or similar statements in that the speaker often acknowledges that injury or death would be a certain result of individual resistance. I think that so many seem to know of the young, former Marine Corporal's letter to Senator Feinstein and the daily progress of legislative talk is indicative of a fairly widespread knowledge of and interest in the subject. In short, these people are just shooting off their mouths...
Glenn Beck has rather famously predicted that there could be widespread violence here as we've seen in Greece, Egypt, Libya, Syria, and so forth. His conclusion was that the Obama administration and its allies would be accepting of such a crisis as an excuse to have a wide-ranging limitation of personal liberty. Certainly, there are a number of people who perceive this is true based on the rather arrogant way in which public opinion was ignored to enact Obama-care without legislators reading the bill, it being introduced in the House as required by the Constitution and the rather tortured opinion written by the Chief Justice of SCOTUS to uphold the act. People generally perceive this as what it is, a separation of the government from the people.
A lot of people are banking on their representatives voting down any such legislation, at least in the House of Representatives if not also in the Senate. But now we've heard from the Vice President of the United States that the President is considering acting by executive order. That is, the President of the United States, sworn to defend the constitution, is going to ignore the constitution recently upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States, and unilaterally act to control firearms possession. No legislation required. No vote.
It has happened elsewhere that such an act as the attempted confiscation of arms lead to resistance which lead to revolution or civil war. While we've survived one Civil War, it was only by the extraordinary efforts of a few to mitigate the animosities that lingered and to forgive, by public policy, the "rebellion" that we were able to reunite. Neither a revolution such as we began in 1776 nor a civil war such as we had in 1861-1865 have ever been so well ended as they have been here. It isn't likely that such would happen again.
What does this mean? It means we need to be prepared, in many different ways. Yes, you should have food just in case food supplies are somehow put in jeopardy. Yes, you should have some other way of heating your house if electricity and/or natural gas is cut off from your community. Yes, you should have as much of your necessary medications on hand as possible. Yes, it means that you should network with your neighbors so that you can act together for each other if that is necessary. You really should do a lot of these things anyway, including having cash on hand and perhaps protecting your investments from rampant inflation or seizure. But there are other ways in which you should prepare.
You have to be prepared to make critical decisions on short notice. What do you believe is right? What are you willing to do to support what you believe is right? To what risks will you subject yourself and/or your family? What is really important to you? You have to know, now, so that should the decision be required with little notice you will act properly, i.e. you will act as you deem proper and in a way that you can accept the consequences of that decision without regret. And let's face this one fact, EVERY act has consequences.
Little has been said in the media about the common thread of psychotropic drug use by participants in "mass" shootings. It would seem that there would have to be a connection. This is the last post John Noveske made on his Facebook page before he died in an auto accident (although some wonder if it was an accident):
Eric Harris age 17 (first on Zoloft then Luvox) and Dylan Klebold aged 18 (Columbine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado), killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and wounded 23 others, before killing themselves. Klebold's medical records have never been made available to the public.
Jeff Weise, age 16, had been prescribed 60 mg/day of Prozac (three times the average starting dose for adults!) when he shot his grandfather, his grandfather's girlfriend and many fellow students at Red Lake, Minnesota. He then shot himself. 10 dead, 12 wounded.
Cory Baadsgaard, age 16, Wahluke (Washington state) High School, was on Paxil (which caused him to have hallucinations) when he took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates hostage. He has no memory of the event.
Chris Fetters, age 13, killed his favorite aunt while taking Prozac.
Christopher Pittman, age 12, murdered both his grandparents while taking Zoloft.
Mathew Miller, age 13, hung himself in his bedroom closet after taking Zoloft for 6 days.
Kip Kinkel, age 15, (on Prozac and Ritalin) shot his parents while they slept then went to school and opened fire killing 2 classmates and injuring 22 shortly after beginning Prozac treatment.
Luke Woodham, age 16 (Prozac) killed his mother and then killed two students, wounding six others.
A boy in Pocatello, ID (Zoloft) in 1998 had a Zoloft-induced seizure that caused an armed stand off at his school.
Michael Carneal (Ritalin), age 14, opened fire on students at a high school prayer meeting in West Paducah, Kentucky. Three teenagers were killed, five others were wounded..
A young man in Huntsville, Alabama (Ritalin) went psychotic chopping up his parents with an ax and also killing one sibling and almost murdering another.
Andrew Golden, age 11, (Ritalin) and Mitchell Johnson, aged 14, (Ritalin) shot 15 people, killing four students, one teacher, and wounding 10 others.
TJ Solomon, age 15, (Ritalin) high school student in Conyers, Georgia opened fire on and wounded six of his class mates.
Rod Mathews, age 14, (Ritalin) beat a classmate to death with a bat.
James Wilson, age 19, (various psychiatric drugs) from Breenwood, South Carolina, took a .22 caliber revolver into an elementary school killing two young girls, and wounding seven other children and two teachers.
Elizabeth Bush, age 13, (Paxil) was responsible for a school shooting in Pennsylvania
Jason Hoffman (Effexor and Celexa) – school shooting in El Cajon, California
Jarred Viktor, age 15, (Paxil), after five days on Paxil he stabbed his grandmother 61 times.
Chris Shanahan, age 15 (Paxil) in Rigby, ID who out of the blue killed a woman.
Jeff Franklin (Prozac and Ritalin), Huntsville, AL, killed his parents as they came home from work using a sledge hammer, hatchet, butcher knife and mechanic's file, then attacked his younger brothers and sister.
Neal Furrow (Prozac) in LA Jewish school shooting reported to have been court-ordered to be on Prozac along with several other medications.
Kevin Rider, age 14, was withdrawing from Prozac when he died from a gunshot wound to his head. Initially it was ruled a suicide, but two years later, the investigation into his death was opened as a possible homicide. The prime suspect, also age 14, had been taking Zoloft and other SSRI antidepressants.
Alex Kim, age 13, hung himself shortly after his Lexapro prescription had been doubled.
Diane Routhier was prescribed Welbutrin for gallstone problems. Six days later, after suffering many adverse effects of the drug, she shot herself.
Billy Willkomm, an accomplished wrestler and a University of Florida student, was prescribed Prozac at the age of 17. His family found him dead of suicide – hanging from a tall ladder at the family's Gulf Shore Boulevard home in July 2002.
Kara Jaye Anne Fuller-Otter, age 12, was on Paxil when she hung herself from a hook in her closet. Kara's parents said ".... the darn doctor wouldn't take her off it and I asked him to when we went in on the second visit. I told him I thought she was having some sort of reaction to Paxil...")
Gareth Christian, Vancouver, age 18, was on Paxil when he committed suicide in 2002,
(Gareth's father could not accept his son's death and killed himself.)
Julie Woodward, age 17, was on Zoloft when she hung herself in her family's detached garage.
Matthew Miller was 13 when he saw a psychiatrist because he was having difficulty at school. The psychiatrist gave him samples of Zoloft. Seven days later his mother found him dead, hanging by a belt from a laundry hook in his closet.
Kurt Danysh, age 18, and on Prozac, killed his father with a shotgun. He is now behind prison bars, and writes letters, trying to warn the world that SSRI drugs can kill.
Woody ____, age 37, committed suicide while in his 5th week of taking Zoloft. Shortly before his death his physician suggested doubling the dose of the drug. He had seen his physician only for insomnia. He had never been depressed, nor did he have any history of any mental illness symptoms.
A boy from Houston, age 10, shot and killed his father after his Prozac dosage was increased.
Hammad Memon, age 15, shot and killed a fellow middle school student. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and depression and was taking Zoloft and "other drugs for the conditions."
Matti Saari, a 22-year-old culinary student, shot and killed 9 students and a teacher, and wounded another student, before killing himself. Saari was taking an SSRI and a benzodiazapine.
Steven Kazmierczak, age 27, shot and killed five people and wounded 21 others before killing himself in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently been taking Prozac, Xanax and Ambien. Toxicology results showed that he still had trace amounts of Xanax in his system.
Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen, age 18, had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School – then he committed suicide.
Asa Coon from Cleveland, age 14, shot and wounded four before taking his own life. Court records show Coon was on Trazodone.
Jon Romano, age 16, on medication for depression, fired a shotgun at a teacher in his
New York high school.
Missing from list... 3 of 4 known to have taken these same meds....
What drugs was Jared Lee Loughner on, age 21...... killed 6 people and injuring 14 others in Tuscon, Az
What drugs was James Eagan Holmes on, age 24..... killed 12 people and injuring 59 others in Aurora Colorado
What drugs was Jacob Tyler Roberts on, age 22, killed 2 injured 1, Clackamas Or
What drugs was Adam Peter Lanza on, age 20, Killed 26 and wounded 2 in Newtown Ct
Roberts is the only one that I haven't heard about being on drugs of some kind.
"Trust in God and fear nothing." Captain Lewis A. Armistead
"A free people ought to be armed." (President George Washington, Jan 14 1790, Boston Independent Chronicle.)
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." (William Pitt,Nov. 18, 1783)
"Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."Captain John Parker, Apr. 19, 1775
The Four Rules
1. All guns are always loaded. 2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. 3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target. 4. Be sure of your target and what is behind it.
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