JACKSON, MS (WLBT) – Law officers are investigating the latest fatal shooting in the capital city.
Shortly before five J.P.D. officers responded to Gipson Discount Foods on 1434 Highway 80 West near Terry Road.
There, they found a man dead from a gunshot wound to the chest at the rear of the grocery store.
J.P.D. Assistant Chief Lee Vance says the unidentified man was breaking in when an employee who lives in the building heard the noises.
According to investigators, the thief was armed with a large caliber hand gun and a knife.
The employee opened fire with a shotgun.
“We do know that this appears to be a justified shooting. This individual was in the process of breaking into this building. He was an armed suspect, and he was shot while he was trying to break into the building,” said Vance. Read more
Albert Gosiak (pronounced like go-shack) said he walked out of his East Vancouver house just for a minute Saturday morning. That's when he met two pit bulls in his walkway.
Gosiak said the dogs were aggressive and he was trapped. He said he acted in self defense when he shot one of the pit bulls.
“It was just a snap judgment,” Gosiak said. “What do I do, fumble around? They were right there … I gotta do something now, so I pulled out my gun and shot them.”
A Clark County Animal Control officer was able to capture the other pit bull. That pit bull, a female, is now at the Humane Society for Southwest Washington.
Employees there tell KATU News that they believe they have found the dogs' owners. No word as to how the dogs got out, or whether the owners will face such dog-related charges as “running at large” or “vicious behavior.” Read more
In Portsmouth, N.H., a man carrying a gun, William Kostric, joined an Aug. 11 health care protest. This was blocks away and hours before Mr. Obama's town-hall meeting in that city. Mr. Kostric was given permission to be on church property where the protest occurred and was not at the place the president visited. What most of the coverage left out was that Mr. Kostric didn't carry his gun only for the protest; he legally carries a gun with him all the time for protection.
While the media regularly used terms such as “hotheads” to mischaracterize the situation, the coverage ignored that union members who opposed the protest had attacked Mr. Kostric and a friend, kicking, pushing and spitting on them. Despite violence against him by Mr. Obama's supporters, Mr. Kostric did not draw his gun or threaten anyone.
On the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric asked, “Are we really still debating health care when a man brings a handgun to a church where the president is speaking?” Deliberately or not, she got the facts wrong. As we know, Mr. Kostric did bring a gun to the church, but the president was not there and never was scheduled to speak there. Mr. Obama spoke at a separate event at a local high school at a different time. Not letting facts get in the way of her hysterical story line, Ms. Couric linked Mr. Kostric's gun to “fear and frankly ignorance drown[ing] out the serious debate that needs to take place about an issue that affects the lives of millions of people.”
In another case in Arizona, a black man staged an event with a local radio host and carried a semiautomatic rifle a few blocks away from another Obama town-hall meeting. According to the radio station, the staged event was “partially motivated to do so because of the controversy surrounding William Kostric.” This occurrence was not an example of an outraged gun-toting Obama protester, but a stunt to garner attention for a shock jock. Of course, this inconvenient truth was ignored by most news outlets.
MSNBC misrepresented the facts to try to back up a bogus claim about racism being behind opposition to Mr. Obama's agenda. On Donny Deutsch's Aug. 18 show about the Arizona town-hall meeting, the producers aired a clip of the anonymous black man carrying the so-called assault rifle — but the network edited the tape so the man's race was obscured. Truth be damned, MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer said, “There are questions whether this has a racial overtone. I mean, here you have a man of color in the presidency and white people showing up with guns strapped to their waists.” Another commentator on the same show worried about the “anger about a black person being president.” The supposed result: “You know we see these hate groups rising up.” Read more
For Soldotna fishing guide Greg Brush, the rare and precious finally arrived — a summer day off between king and silver salmon seasons.
It was Aug. 2, a little after 11 a.m., when he headed down Dirks Lake Road, a quarter-mile from his home, taking three dogs for some exercise in preparation for hunting season. Brush talked to his animals as they walked past homes on one- to five-acre lots.
The slightest noise — a twig snapping — prompted Brush to glance over his shoulder. Less than 20 yards away, a brown bear was charging, “ears back, head low and motorin' full speed.
“Came with zero warning,” Brush said. “No woof, no popping of the teeth, no standing up, nothing like what you think.”
Brush said he wears a pistol on his walks because bears have chased his dogs in the past.
He drew a Ruger .454 Casull revolver. There was no time to aim, barely time to squeeze the trigger. He's not sure whether he got off two shots or three, but one proved fatal.
“Total luck shot,” he said.
“It doesn't get any closer. He slid by me on his chin when I shot him,” Brush said. “I was backpedaling as fast as I could. I wasn't even aiming. I tripped over my own feet as I pulled the trigger.”
He estimated that the animal weighed 900-plus pounds, and was 15 to 20 years old. It had grass packed in its molars and little fat on its bones.
“It was starving to death and saw an opportunity,” Brush said. Read more
The lawsuit, filed by Scott Thomas Zielinski from his cell in a Michigan prison, was assigned to Macomb County Circuit Judge David Viviano.
John Acho, owner of the store and one of the people sued, said his customers are mad that an armed robber is allowed to file a lawsuit after he threatened the store’s employees with a knife.
Zielinski is seeking in excess of $125,000 for injuries sustained when he was shot escaping from the owners of the store. They went after him because he held two of the employees at knifepoint and threatened to kill them, police said.
“He comes into my store wearing a mask and armed with a knife, threatens to kill my employees and steals cigarettes and $793 in cash,” said Acho. “And he is suing us because we ruined his life and he is going through pain and suffering.”
Zielinski, 22, was convicted of the November 2007 robbery. In a plea bargain, he was sentenced May 20, 2008, to eight to 22 years in prison for unarmed, instead of armed, robbery. Read more
Terry Bratcher (right) and Keith Allen (left) are charged in the home invasion and murder of Carl Kuhn, 82, of unincorporated Bartlett. (DuPage County Sheriff's Office)
Two men who went to the home of an 82-year-old northwest suburban firearms collector Friday to steal some guns wound up killing the man, according to DuPage County authorities.
Terry S. Bratcher, 43, of the 3N500 block of Route 59 in West Chicago, and Keith L. Allen, 21, of the 10000 block of South LaSalle in Chicago, have been arrested and charged with first degree murder and home invasion with a firearm, according to the DuPage County Sheriff's office.
Sheriff's police responded to a call at 9 p.m. Friday of a man unconscious and not breathing in a home on the 29W400 block of Schick Road in an unincorporated area near Barlett.
They found Carl W. Kuhn unresponsive on the second floor of the home, where he was pronounced dead.
On Friday, Bratcher and Allen devised a plan to burglarize Kuhn’s home and steal firearms, according to a release from the DuPage County State's Attorney's office. Kuhn, according to the sheriff's release, was known as an avid firearms collector.
Bratcher allegedly went into the home first and then called Allen to join him. They allegedly forced Kuhn to an upstairs bedroom and smothered him to death, then burglarized the home, the release said. Read more
After four decades in the U.S. Senate, Ted Kennedy’s life ended, as all lives do, in death. In his time in the Senate, he sponsored or pushed to make law virtually every piece of anti-gun legislation possible.
Anti-gunners have already started to seize upon his death and demand that various pieces of anti-gun, anti-freedom legislation be passed to “honor Ted Kennedy.” I expect a major anti-gun legislative push as soon as Congress re-convenes in September.
Gun owners must not fall victim to a nostalgia surrounding a celebrity’s death that glosses over the harm done to the values we hold dear, and that our opponents ghoulishly seize upon to promote their agenda.
We must guard against the normal tendency to overdose on compassion when our enemies die; to search for the silver lining around a cloud of acid rain. He was no friend to gun owners, the Constitution or American Liberty.
Ted Kennedy’s anti-gun, anti-freedom legacy may live on. But we have the opportunity to control just how much his specter haunts us from the grave. Read more
Attending a concealed carry class can dramatically change your outlook on armed defense — not to mention give you vital insights into criminal behavior.
I have uploaded a lot of reasons for law-abiding citizens to be armed at all times to gundigest.com. But this article was different.
The story spelled out how an 82-year-old gun collector was led at gunpoint into his upstairs bedroom and smothered to death by two thugs. After snuffing out his life, the murderers went about stealing their victim’s lifetime gun collection.
The tragedy taught a grim lesson: Being a gun owner isn’t enough. You need the gun on you, and you need to be prepared to use it. Do You Really Need a CCW Class?
Personal Protection Academy students qualify on the indoor range and get expert “hands on” instruction to improve stance, grip and trigger control.
Attending a concealed carry class can dramatically change your outlook on armed defense — not to mention give you vital insights into criminal behavior. You’ll learn how to shoot and train to thwart an attack directed at you or your family. But the shooting is only part of the training. In my case, I was amazed at how much I didn’t know.
The staff of Gun Digest and a few select guests recently attended a one-day self-defense handgun class taught by Michael and Jennifer Bender of the Wisconsin-based Personal Protection Academy. I was left with a renewed appreciation for just how serious this arm-bearing responsibility truly is.
Bender — a Certified Permit to Carry Pistol Instructor with the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification and an NRA Distinguished Expert Marksman (Handgun) — is one intense dude. Some people you never want to mess with. Bender is one of those people.
I’ve been shooting handguns for many years. And while I thought I knew everything there was to know about firearm safety, I was wrong. The basic rules of firearm safety from the hunter education safety courses of my youth —which served me well in the hunting field — were fine starting points, but things get serious in the world of tactical handgun.
Differences in safe revolver handling, for instance, vary dramatically from those of semi-automatics. The details seem at first minute; but the results could be life-changing if you fail to learn them.
Do you know why you should always clear your auto-loader three times? Or how long you should wait if you experience a hang-fire? A good instructor can teach you handling techniques to deal with these contingencies — tips that could prevent a future negligent discharge.
A Sobering Reality Check
Bender outlined the speed armed attackers can unleash their violence upon their intended victims (hint: it’s a matter of seconds, on average), driving home the need to have a gun within easy reach, on your person.
But simply carrying the gun isn’t enough: You learn about the human reaction — that is, stress — one experiences when facing a lethal force situation. Stance, grip, target acquisition, holster and firearm/ammunition choices are all made ahead of time — cemented into place with serious training — such that the adrenaline rush you will experience in the moment of truth doesn’t render you incapable of functioning when you lose basic fine motor skills.
Perhaps most striking are the raw statistics Bender pointed out. For example, you learn where an attack is most likely to occur, what the average distance is between attacker and “victim” and how many shots are typically fired in defensive gun uses (DGUs). All of these facts help when adopting a training regimen, gun and gear, and when preparing mentally. Dual Threat from Perpetrators and Prosecutors
Too many gun owners think self-defensive uses of firearms are a straightforward affair: Kill the attacker. Become a hero. Go home.
Such a notion is pure fantasy. As a long-time reader of Gun Digest author Massad Ayoob, I was well aware that the legal maneuvers of criminal prosecutors and the anti-gun media might be just as dangerous to your freedom as a perp with intent.
Concealed Carry Guns: Semi-Auto Pistols for Self-Defense This 54-page download covers all the newest and most advanced semi-auto pistols for concealed carry that are available on the market today, as reviewed in the Gun Digest annual book. It also includes a 44-page autoloader pistol catalog featuring concealed carry handguns from all the major manufacturers with photos, specs and MSRPs. For those with a CCW permit it’s truly the ultimate shopping guide for finding the best concealed carry pistols for you.
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There really are two battles one must prepare for (arguably three if you consider the personal emotional toll shootings have on survivors): the battles on the street and in court.
Experienced tacticians understand they must know what conditions a prosecutor will later exploit. The events leading up to a shooting are just as important as those that occur during and after. Can you articulate to a jury that you spent every possible effort to meet these conditions?
A good instructor will make these considerations a central part of the curriculum and drive them home with strong words.
Consider a post-shooting scenario: Your attempts to avoid a confrontation with evil have failed, and your gun training has paid off — your shots found their mark. The bad guy is on the ground. A crowd is gathering. Now what?
Despite the shock that is beginning to set in, you now need to keep your wits about you and consider some questions. How much should you tell the police when they arrive on the scene? If you’re still holding your gun, will the police mistake you for the shooter? Will you be arrested and what rights should you assert? Should you call the police first? Should you call your attorney?
Michael Bender demonstrates proper stance and operation of a semi-automatic handgun.
Bender answered all of these questions and more. He gave practical advice that was easy to remember — and even this was by design. In fact, it has to be easy to remember. That’s because in the excitement involved in a shooting, your ability to handle the aftermath of a violent encounter has to be as second nature as your ability to draw and fire your handgun accurately.
Under stress, you will do what you trained to do. If you don’t train, you’ll likely freeze; if you train wrong, you’ll act wrong. If you act wrong, by-standers are wounded, crippled or killed and you will likely be killed. And even if you do survive, not knowing any different you could make one well-meaning yet utterly fatal statement to the police that an anti-gun prosecutor could use to put you away for the rest of your days.
Conclusion
Whether you carry a self-defense handgun openly or concealed, you owe it to yourself and those around you to take the time to get properly trained. A concealed carry handgun class represents the best opportunity to tap into the expert tactical knowledge historically taught only to peace officers. If you do, be prepared to be shocked at what you don’t know. If you don’t take this advice, don’t be surprised if you under-perform when faced with a violent criminal—or a savvy prosecutor.
To learn more about the Personal Protection Academy, Click here.
Defend Yourself by Rob Pincus is the most complete and practical guide to home defense available today. Drawing from experience helping law enforcement, military, private security and people just like you understand how to protect themselves or others, Rob Pincus presents detailed information about planning for, training for and, ultimately, defending yourself and your family from a violent predator inside your home
The dust jacket of the 1955 Bonanza edition, the one most familiar to collectors.
Some of my books are sentimental favorites, volumes I cut my teeth on when I was a kid: Pistols: A Modern Encyclopedia by Henry Stebbins. A History of the Colt Revolver by Haven and Belden. The Gun and Its Development by Greener. But of all my gun books, the one that brings a smile to my face more quickly than any other is Firearms Curiosa by Lewis Winant. Though out of print, this book is an affordable classic, well worth the time it takes to track down a copy.
If you've ever read my columns, you're aware that I'm fascinated by oddball firearms. Perhaps you are, too. If so, Winant's Firearms Curiosa is a must-have.
Lewis Winant was one of those gentlemen collectors who flourished during what we might call the Golden Age of Gun Collecting. This period ran roughly from 1946 and 1960, when many firearms that had been “liberated” from European and Asian collections began filtering out into the American consumer market. As fellow Gun Digest Magazine columnist Phillip Peterson can tell you, hundreds of thousands of collectible firearms made the long trek across the Atlantic after World War II, and they weren't all Lugers and P-38s. It was a time when men like Robert Abels, Herb Glass, Joseph Kindig, Jr., George R. Numrich, Jr., and James Serven really came into their own.
Gun collecting had existed as a hobby before World War II (the greatest of these organizations, the Ohio Gun Collectors Association, was founded in 1937), but it was the second world war that pumped new life into the hobby, both in the form of vintage guns as well as gun-conscious hobbyists, many of whom had just returned from service abroad.
As far as we know, Lewis Winant's first book was Pepperbox Firearms, the first American book-length treatment of the subject. It was published in 1952 by Greenberg Publishing of New York City (not to be confused with today's Greenberg Publishing Company, which specializes in literature about toy trains). I have read this book, though I don't currently own a copy of it, and as I recall it contains everything you might care to know about pepperboxes, and likely a good deal more than you'd care to know.
Bonanza Books of New York published Firearms Curiosa in 1955, and it remains the best-known of Winant's books. The book was simultaneously published in a limited first edition of 1,000 hand-numbered copies by Greenberg, and the blurb copy of the dust jacket of my copy (copy #902) gives little doubt that it's the kind of book that appeals to me: “[This book deals with] pistols in knives and canes; pistols in flashlights, purses, ploughs, whips, bicycle handlebars, stirrups, keys, pipes, belts, sundials, and other contrivances. In addition, there are other types classified as oddities, such as squeezers, knuckledusters, alarm and trap.
The dust jacket of the 1955 Greenberg limited edition bears this illustration of an automatic dog-mounted fowling piece.
There are combination weapons, turret, chain and harmonica pistols, guns using superposed loads and other variations from the norm. These remarkable firearms come from more than fifty collections. Some of the most interesting rarities have never before been illustrated in any publication, and their existence is unknown to most collectors.”
You've just got to love the illustration on the dust jacket of my copy of Firearms Curiosa. It shows an actual patent application archived in the Smithsonian Institution. The patent is titled “NEW AND INGENIOUS READY-ACTING DOG-TAIL AND GUN-BARREL ATTACHMENT FOR SPORTING PURPOSES,” and the picture shows a fowling piece that is attached to the back of a pointer and automatically fires when the dog goes on point. That's my kind of gun! That's my kind of book!
Winant's choice of cover illustration for this edition is whimsical, but the book's content isn't. The contents, in order, are Combination Weapons; Miniature Firearms; Two-Barrel Revolvers; Two-Cylinder Revolvers; Squeezers and Knuckledusters; Alarm and Trap Guns; Knife Pistols and Cane Guns; Other Disguised Guns; Superposed Loads; Turret and Chain Guns; and Miscellaneous.
Winant writes in a casual, extremely readable style that's neither stuffy nor overly professorial. More than 300 black and white photos augment the text, which deals not only with one-of-a-kind museum pieces but with mass-produced items such as the WWII-vintage Liberator single-shot .45 made by GM's Guide Lamp division.
I eat this stuff up. I doubt that I'd ever have a use for an armored vest with 19 pistol barrels sticking out of it, a 24-shot revolver, or a pistol that's actually a functional tobacco pipe (hmmmmm. . .) — but if I did, I'd know where to find out about it: in the 281 pages of this little book.
Firearms Curiosa has been reprinted numerous times, and a quick search of Amazon (www.amazon.com), AuctionArms (www.auctionarms.com), Gunbroker (www.gunbroker.com), or Ray Riling Arms Books (www.rayrilingarmsbooks.com) will certainly fetch you a copy in your price range. On Amazon, I found the 1996 Odysseus Editions reprint for as little as $10 a copy, while on the Ray Riling site I found, for $100, what has to be the rarest of the rare: an autographed, inscribed copy of the Arco first edition published in London in 1956. All editions of Firearms Curiosa that I have seen are hardcovers; I doubt that a paperback edition was ever printed.
In 1959, Lewis Winant hit the big time, as far as publishing is concerned, with his classic Early Percussion Firearms: A History of Early Percussion Firearms Ignition — from Forsyth to Winchester .44/40. (I hope Winant got paid separately for the title; it must have been a day's work in itself.) This book was published by the high-profile firm of William Morrow and is now available in used-original and reprint form from some of the above-mentioned merchants from between $10 and $75.
The Antique and Collectible Firearms and Militaria Headquarters at www.oldguns.net has this to say about Firearms Curiosa: “This is a great book for the collector who is tired of looking at ads for greasy surplus rifles and beginning to wonder if there was something really interesting in the gun field to justify another trip to a museum, or gun show, or auction or website. Really cool stuff!” (If you've never visited oldguns.net, my advice is: do. It's worth it.)
I might note that if you're ever passing through northern Indiana, you might want to pay a visit to the LaPorte County Historical Society Museum (www.laportecountyhistory.org). This museum houses the William A. Jones Collection of Antique Weapons, which contains nearly 1,000 of just the sort of guns that Winant deals with in Firearms Curiosa. For $5 you can see volley guns, trap guns, squeezer pistols, pepperboxes, cane guns, and many other freaky firearms that'll make you look twice and shake your head.
If you do a lot of bathroom reading, hunt down a copy of Firearms Curiosa. You might never come out.
That is illegal and isn't being done. Brandishing is defined as “to shake or wave (as a weapon) menacingly”, (originally a sword, or brand in the Old English). The law in all the states I checked specifically forbid menacing with a weapon, whether you have a concealed carry permit or not.
The charge is generally called brandishing a weapon or they could be charged with felony menacing. None of the demonstrators was arrested for any misconduct. They were not brandishing anything.
It is hard for the pioneers of any movement. It is hard to recover rights that have been covered over with layers of Political Correctness and years of exaggerated accusations by the anti-gun left. These men were legally exercising what has become an obscure right, and the left has been trying to distort their actions and vilify them so that others will be dissuaded from doing the same thing.
For example, Bonnie Erbe writing at US News and World Report imply's that anyone openly carrying a gun is a crazy waiting to go off on a mass killing spree, saying the danger to society was “tantamount to allowing children to play with live hand grenades.” The Sun in England ran a headline: A MAN with a 9mm pistol waits for Barack Obama to appear at a meeting – after cops said they could not arrest him.
After mentioning that Obama has gotten many death threats, they mentioned in the fourth paragraph that the man caused no trouble to anyone. On Time's website Joseph Petro says “They're intimidating people like it's a western saloon..”
No crimes were committed, no harm was done. These men peaceably assembled for redress of grievance and carried weapons. Those are covered by Amendment 1 and Amendment 2 to the United States Constitution.
Let's hold the national press and the blogoshere to task to report accurately on the news of the day, and not impute criminal intent or make up actions that cast a negative light on people who carry guns simply because they are legally carrying them. Read more
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is likely to decide whether the Second Amendment's guarantee of a right to “keep and bear arms” restricts only the federal government — the current state of affairs — or whether it can be used to strike down intrusive state and local laws too.
A three-judge panel ruled that the Second Amendment does apply to the states. But now a larger Ninth Circuit panel will rehear the case, a procedure reserved only for issues of exceptional importance, which means the earlier decision could be upheld or overruled.
Two other circuits have said the Second Amendment does not apply to the states, a legal term known as “incorporation.” If the Ninth Circuit's en banc panel continues to disagree with its peers, the Supreme Court almost certainly would step in.
The Ninth Circuit case involves Russell and Sallie Nordyke, who run a gun show business that would like to rent Alameda County's fairgrounds (the county includes Oakland and is across the bay from San Francisco). After being blocked, they sued. The author of the ordinance in question, then-county supervisor Mary King, actually claimed such shows are nothing but “a place for people to display guns for worship as deities for the collectors who treat them as icons of patriotism.”
The hearing is set for 10 a.m. PT in the federal courthouse at 95 Seventh Street in San Francisco.
A few other items:
California Update: I wrote an article three months ago about a lawsuit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Calguns Foundation saying routine denials of concealed carry permits violate the Second Amendment's right to bear arms. Oral arguments on a preliminary motion in that case are scheduled for the same day — September 24 — at 2 p.m. in Sacramento.
In a brief filed on Monday, Sacramento (one of the counties sued) says it wants more time to question the gun owners who filed the case to verify that they're in a position to sue. “Defendants seek to depose the individual plaintiffs on these issues to determine the basis of their alleged ‘undisputed facts,' what process each plaintiff has engaged in to the end of obtaining a carry concealed permit in Sacramento County,” it says.
Some Guns Are More Equal Than Others: Nobody has been hurt by the protesters who have legally carried guns to events where the president has been speaking, and I know of no evidence that they were even close enough to see the man.
Nevertheless, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's non-voting Democratic rep in the U.S. House of Representatives, wants mandatory “gun-free zones around the president, his cabinet and other top federal officials,” according to a report by the local Fox affiliate. Similarly, the Brady Campaign toldCBS News that guns have no place at such an event.
It's Official: Congratulations to the Calguns Foundation for being awarded non-profit status by the IRS. Gene Hoffman, chairman of the Calguns Foundation, told me on Monday evening that the group is now officially a 501(c)(3) non-profit; previously, the non-profit status had been pending.
Montana Update: You may remember that a Montana state law seeks to challenge the federal government on the manufacture and sale of guns made entirely within the state. It takes effect on October 1. As soon that happens, according to Montana Shooting Sports Association president Gary Marbut, gun-rights types will have a lawsuit ready to file to prevent federal prosecution of local would-be gunsmiths.
“We have some strong arguments to make, including some that have never been argued before about the (U.S. Constitution's) Commerce Clause and the Tenth Amendment, as far as I know,” Marbut told me on Monday.
Paging The Ninth Circuit: I just noticed yet another case in which a judge has declined to extend the Second Amendment to state or local laws. The case is called Slough v. Telb and arose out of a gun seizure in Ohio.
U.S. District Judge David Katz ruled on August 14: “The United States Supreme Court has never held that the Second Amendment is enforceable against the states by incorporation into the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Courts in other circuits have held that Second Amendment rights are not enforceable against the states under (civil rights laws). As the weight of authority holds that the individual right to bear arms may not be enforceable against the states, the constitutional right to do so is anything but clearly established.” Read more
The Montana Shooting Sports Association, headquartered in Missoula, and the Second Amendment Foundation, of Bellevue, Wash., announced Monday they intend to file suit on Oct. 1 to prevent federal gun control laws from being enforced in Montana for guns made and used within the state's boundaries.
“If a gun is made in Montana and stays in Montana, it isn't engaging in interstate commerce,” said Alan Gottlieb, of the Second Amendment Foundation. “The federal government really should bug out.”
At issue is the Montana Firearms Freedom Act, which passed the 2009 Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Brian Schweitzer. That law states that guns, ammunition and certain gun parts manufactured and used in Montana are not subject to federal gun laws.
The law goes into effect Oct. 1. Several other states are considering identical legislation, although so far only Tennessee has passed a similar measure.
Currently, individuals and businesses that sell or manufacture most guns must have a federal license.
Missoula resident Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, said that licensure is about control.
“Whenever there is licensure, there is control. That's the purpose of licensure,” he said. “We don't think the source of those items that are essential to our Second Amendment freedoms should be controlled by the federal government.”
Scot Thomasson, a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, declined to comment for this story.
However, the agency sent letters to all federal gun license holders in the state last month. That letter stated that the Montana Firearms Freedom Act did not nullify federal gun regulations.
“All provisions of the Gun Control Act and the National Firearms Act and their corresponding regulations continue to apply,” according to the letter, which was signed by Carson Carroll, assistant director of the ATF in Washington, D.C. “These, as well as other federal requirements and prohibitions, continue to apply whether or not the firearms or ammunition has crossed state lines.”
That the guns and ammo not be used outside Montana is important, Gottlieb said. So far, the federal government has justified federal control over guns by citing the “interstate commerce clause,” which states that the federal government can regulate commerce between the states.
But if a gun will not be leaving Montana, there is no “interstate commerce” and the federal government has no standing to enforce its laws, Gottlieb said.
Marbut said he'll planning to file suit in Montana federal court the day the law goes into effect. He said he's received letters from Montanans interested in making their own guns, but who aren't sure the new law will protect them from federal prison time.
Those people, Marbut said, are the “test case.” He's anticipating the suit will seek to prevent the ATF from enforcing federal laws. Marbut said he didn't want any Montanans to have to go to federal prison in order to test the legal arguments behind the Firearms Freedom Act.
In the meantime, he said, please don't make a gun.
“We are continuing to highly recommend to Montana people that nobody make one of these Montana devices until we can clarify these legal issues in court,” he said. “We don't want some Montana citizens to face potential federal prison time.”
The law states that the gun must be machined in Montana; people couldn't simply assemble a gun here from parts they bought out of state.
Marbut said gun laws ought to be made and enforced by the states.
“We would prefer that if there's going to be regulation (of guns) that it done at the state level in a way that is consistent with our people and our culture in Montana,” he said. “We don't need the kinds of regulation that New Jersey may need or that California may need.” Read more
The M1A was developed during the Vietnam era, yet is still in use by the military in campaigns around the world.
Many of these items are highly regulated, with stiff penalties for failure to comply with national and local laws. This adds to the “mystique” of many ordnance items, notably machine guns, artillery pieces and tanks. Compliance with some of these laws is costly, and this further drives up pricing.
US soldiers walking the fields of Vietnam.
The pricing found in the firearms portion of this book is different than that found in the remainder of the book. For the most part, collectors shun reproductions or fakes; however, an exception seems to exist in this regard when it comes to weapons. A firearm is a key part of many Vietnam displays, exhibits and mannequin dressing.
In many areas, regulation has made this difficult, particularly if items are displayed publicly, especially at schools. Hence, a legitimate market has developed for demilitarized or dummy weapons, as well as automatic weapon replicas capable of firing as semi-automatics. Hence, pricing is given for live, fully automatic, legally transferable weapons, semi-automatic variants, and demilitarized or dummy weapons.
Similarly, grenades and rockets listed in the Warman’s Vietnam Collectibles book are either demilitarized or expended. This is NOT the same thing as an inert or dummy grenade—the latter being much more common and much less valuable or desirable.
Armored fighting vehicles and self-propelled weapons are also listed. Collecting this equipment is a hobby unto itself; however, many vehicle collectors completely outfit their vehicles with period gear and wear authentic clothing while operating them. Private ownership of these vehicles is legal in the United States, although some localities have imposed restrictions.
If you can readily identify a piece, make sure you get an appraisal so you know what you are getting into.
Many of the armored vehicles used in the Vietnam War are still being used by U.S. soldiers today, and hence are not readily available on the market. Also, the Department of Defense has severely curtailed the sales of such vehicles domestically, while the State Department is not currently allowing any such vehicles to be repatriated. Cannon ownership, whether mounted on a vehicle or towed, is also legal.
However, if the cannon is capable of firing, its breech must be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) as a destructive device. The values indicated for these items assume a non-firing gun.
Be aware that the army considers most tanks, armored vehicles and cannons on display at VFW’s, American Legions and city parks to still be federal property. Do not consider buying or trading for such an item without an irrefutable chain of title, including a release from the federal government. This article is an excerpt from Warman's Vietnam War Collectibles by David Doyle.
Author's first gun is this Remington rolling block in 7mm Mauser, bought mail order from Ye Old Hunter for under $10. After a lot of elbow grease and emery cloth the ol' gun shined up well and shot pretty good.
I SUPPOSE THERE are times in a collector's life when he should consider cleaning out the accumulated “stuff” he has scrounged over the years. Maybe even more than once. The true and dedicated collector, no matter how narrowly focused he is, always acquires gear that really doesn't fit his tidy plan to own an example of every variation of, say, the Trapdoor Springfield or the Broomhandle Mauser.
There is the unfocused collector — better termed a gatherer — who just buys neat stuff because it tickles his fancy at the moment. It's tough to keep on the straight and narrow when there are fantastic deals to be had.
Read more from the 65-year archive at Gun Digest Research.
However, when first smitten by the gun bug, and until one realizes he really wants to be a collector, our subspecies gathers a variety of pieces just because we like them. We are, at first, the unfocused collector. There is nothing wrong with this. Until you know just what it is you want to pursue, you should try to examine as many types and makes of guns as possible. Automatic pistols, for instance, is a pretty broad field. It's wise to narrow it down and we all try to do that but somehow get sidetracked.
So, there really are times when a housecleaning is in order, sometimes under duress, sometimes just to begin again in another direction. Equally there are those guns we simply can't part with because they have great sentimental value. That's what I'm confessing here.
I have five guns I will never sell. I may someday decide to present them to a loved one, but never will I simply trade them for cash or other guns. I'm a sentimental kind of guy who has gotten a lot of enjoyment from these guns, the kind of memories that can't be replaced. So I'm keeping them, and I'm also going to tell you about them.
The Rolling Block
I don't know how many folks can claim to still have their very first real firearm, but I can. There's nothing real special about it except it is the first one I ever owned and that's good enough reason to be proud of it.
In my growing up years we had a neighbor, a very quiet and gentle man who made Kentuckys and Pennsylvania long rifles and was immensely proud of what he crafted. Sometimes he'd let my brother and me see a just-finished gun. We thought that was pretty neat, but what really got us bunched up were the World War II Mausers and a 1903 Springfield he had squirreled away in a corner.
We also spent a lot of time with a monthly wish book, The American Rifleman, the neighbor passed on to us. Just about that time, the war surplus ads began running in profusion and they drove me nuts. Here was a genuine “U.S. Army Model 1917 – Cal. 30-06” rifle that had just arrived at Ye Old Hunter's place “Virtually unfired. Fresh from Government Cases.” Holy Cow! But they cost $27.95 and that was more than I could muster. However, down the page a little farther was something more my speed, the “Pancho Villa Specials,” 7mm Remington rolling blocks, and the advertising hype was enough to get my blood boiling.
“Yes, here it is, the original ‘gun crank condition' [whatever that was!] 7mm Remington. You can almost see the finger prints which the former fanatical owners pressed into the wood as they realized the jig was up. All guns practically complete. Pre-oiled and ready to clean up.”
I was hooked. Especially since they were affordable — even for me —at the same price of hamburger then — 92 cents per pound. That came to $8.28.
Well, I sold a lot of newspaper subscriptions that summer and did every thing I could to earn a couple of cents toward that rifle. I had to have it. Somehow I did manage to scrape together enough to order it, and waiting for the Railway Express truck to drop it at the door was sheer torture. When it did arrive I was in ecstasy – my very own real gun with an intriguing history. Why, Pancho Villa himself probably held this very gun while riding through the desert with Black Jack Pershing hot on his tail.
I spent hours cleaning that gun and must have gone through 100 yards of emery cloth to get the rust and pitting to disappear. The ad copy writers didn't lie – it was “ready to clean up.” And I hadn't even noticed that line about the guns being “practically complete.” Fortunately, my own artifact seemed to have every part it was made with still firmly attached. The wood was nearly black from dirt and oil, but somehow I managed to get it light brown again, and filled in the worm holes and deeper gouges with Plastic Wood. A can of walnut wood stain served to even the color out, and what better thing to top it all off with than spar varnish! After all, those fancy new rifles were all shiny, so why not my newly restored prize?
Along the way I shot the old Remington quite a lot with penny-a-round, cracked-neck UMC ammo of uncertain vintage. I didn't know any better and most of it went “Bang!” with authority. Those that didn't gave interesting pauses between the time the hammer fell and the gun went off. I spent many an hour cleaning and oiling the neat old gun, and rode many a trail with Pancho and his gang. This rifle is an old friend.
The Marlin Golden 39A
Marlin's Golden 39A was a lot of gun for about $60, even 40 years ago. Thousands of rounds have been fired through this one and the action is butter smooth.
A year or two down the road, my thoughts turned to a 22, but not just any one would do, because now I was reading Boys Life magazine and in there spotted the Marlin Golden 39A lever-action rifle with a tube magazine. I was cutting grass for the neighborhood and earning a pretty good buck, so I figured I'd go for the Cadillac of 22s. I talked my Dad into buying it for me with my money – about $60 – and, since the catalog house selling it was in Chicago, he brought it home on the train one evening.
What a prize I had, and it was brand spanking new! I cleaned and oiled that Marlin and worked the action until I knew all there was to know about the gun. A few months later, we spent a weekend at my great-grandmother's farm in Michigan and I got to take the Golden 39A with me. My Dad bought some Long Rifles and, boy, did we have fun shooting at tin cans and other targets of opportunity! The smell of that much burned powder was intoxicating and one I'll never forget.
I shot my first game with that rifle on that same farm later that year. Now proficient with the gun, I was allowed to take it out to scout the sand dunes for Indians. I saw no Native Americans that afternoon, and the settlement seemed secure for a while longer. I did see a large mole running from hole to hole in the sandy soil. I waited for him to sit still long enough, and he did, and I touched one off and nailed him.
The Marlin was missing something and that was a scope, so I tried selling greeting cards because the Marlin-brand scope was a premium you could earn. It was amazing how many neighbors had just come from the drugstore where they'd bought cards just like those I was selling. And my parents and relatives didn't need any because there weren't any birthdays or holidays coming up soon.
In the end, my mother took pity on me after a few sale-less weeks and bought all the cards, bless her heart, and I was able to get my scope. And that near-50-year-old Marlin won't be leaving this gun room. Check back soon for Part 2 of this article.
The McMillan Rifle Co. A-5 stock is made with an adjustable cheek hood that can be easily manipulated in the field.
Your stock's fit can make the split-second difference that matters when it comes to long-range shooting and your precision rifle.
A properly fit stock is paramount to precision shooting. The stock is the foundation in which the rifle action and barrel become one with the shooter. The more precisely the stock fits the shooter, especially in the length and cheek area, the better eye relief and alignment with the scope will be achieved.
An improperly fit stock is immediately noticeable because the shooter wiggles his head around to get a full picture in the scope. Unless the stock of your rifle is custom made to fit you, or you get lucky and get one off the rack that fits perfectly, some adjustment might be needed to get a proper fit.
Rifles are made to fit average-sized shooters with some variations in the length of the stock and the angle in which it drops from the line of sight. They will work for a wide variety of shooters. The more the stock is customized to fit the shooter, the more precisely and quickly the shooter will be able to shoulder and get a good sight picture in the scope.
Although the wood-stocked rifle is more than adequate for hunting, the professional marksman should have as precise a rifle as he can.
There is no other choice. Get a rifle with a custom-built stock or fit the rifle with a stock that can be adjusted to fit perfectly. Actually, the adjustable stock has merit over the custom stock in that it can be adjusted in the field for slight modifications to account for heavier clothing or awkward shooting positions.
Butt length can be adjusted with spacers, recoil pads, or by cutting off a section and re-fitting the butt plate. Sniper or precision-grade stocks from H.S. Precision are designed with adjustment devices built right in. The stock can be adjusted to length and locked out in position.
The stock is built heavier in the cheek area, the grip, and the forearm to better suit the precision rifleman’s needs. It is machined to fit the action of the rifle and the barrel taper. It can be purchased in whatever color or camo that fits the use or mission. I have one of these stocks on a .308 I built from a Remington 700 action. The stock needed a bit more height in the cheek area for me and I accomplished it with a cheek pad from Blackhawk. I didn’t need much and the soft pad did the trick.
H.S. also produces stocks with adjustable cheek areas that can be lowered or raised to precisely fit the shooter. Precision stocks are usually a bit heavier than sportsman’s stocks — a favorable feature if it doesn’t go overboard, especially if it is to be carried much in a sniper’s role.
McMillan Rifle Co. also makes custom stocks. They manufacture complete precision rifles and stocks in a wide variety of configurations. One of their most popular, because it addresses most of the shooter’s concerns, is the A-5. It has a wider and flatter beavertail forearm and the action and barrel fit lower in the stock.
The A-3 pistol grip and dual-purpose butt hook help stabilize the rifle whether shooting on sand bags or controlling the butt with the off hand. The length is adjustable with aluminum plates that can be added or removed, and the cheek weld is made with an adjustable hood that can be easily manipulated in the field. It also comes in many colors and camo.
The above stocks — although they are part of the Army’s M-24 sniping system — look much like a regular hunting stock in basic shape. Skeletonized stocks, like the Choate Ultimate Sniper Stock designed by Maj. John Plaster, have all the ergonomic features a precision rifleman could need in a stock. It is highly adjustable in the cheek and length department and has hollow areas that can be filled with lead and epoxy to add weight.
The butt bottom is flat with a height adjustment screw for laying on surfaces or sandbags. The front of the forearm is angled to adjust the height of the rifle by moving it back and forth on the rest. It is built from high quality composite materials and machined to fit specific actions. This stock is well thought out and deserves a look for anyone putting together a precision rifle.
Weight is an important feature of the precision rifle. The heavier barrel and stock steady the rifle and reduce felt recoil. I like a police marksman rifle around 10 to 12 pounds. Usually these are .308 Winchester, which is not a shoulder-buster, but the extra weight keeps the scope on target during the shot.
The Choate Ultimate Sniper Stock is highly adjustable in the cheek and length department and has hollow areas that can be filled with lead and epoxy to add weight.
It isn’t so heavy that it can’t be packed to a hide easily or carried on a longer rural set up. Most hunters don’t like the heavier rifles because they are going to pack it around all day, but I like a happy medium in my hunting rifles. The number five contour on a barrel is heavier than a hunting barrel but not a full target or sniper weight. I like a stock that fits me properly and has an action that is bedded solidly and correctly and is lighter than a sniper grade stock.
Fiberglass and composite materials have replaced wood for stock construction and are far superior in rock solid bedding, which is also an important function of the stock. The composite stock is impervious to weather and will not warp, swell or cause different pressures on the barrel that affect accuracy. Also, aluminum blocks that have been machined to fit the particular action of a rifle can be secured with epoxy into the composite stock to get consistent bedding when torqued back together after cleaning.
The solid bedding of the action in the stock cannot be overemphasized. The aluminum block is now becoming the standard for bedding the action because it is a super-solid way of attaching the action to the stock. The rear of the receiver and the barrel must also fit perfectly. The rear of the action should also be a tight fit in the stock and not move during recoil, and the barrel should be floated, that is free from any contact with the stock.
When I fitted the .308 rifle to the H.S. Precision stock, the only modification I needed to do was mill out some aluminum for an after-market precision trigger. The stock was machined for the factory equipment. I epoxy bedded the receiver for a more solid fit, but it was really not necessary, just me being a little fussy.
The aluminum bedding is so superior, many manufacturers and gunsmiths are pillar-bedding actions in composite stocks that didn’t come with an aluminum block welded in. This entails drilling out the holes where the screws fit through the stock to accommodate an aluminum pillar and welding it into place with a high-quality bonding epoxy. This aluminum pillar will contact the action and the trigger guard assembly precisely so when the action screws are tightened, the action, stock and pillars become one.
In some cases wood is still an acceptable material for a stock and can be modified to improve performance. Pillar bedding can also be used to improve a wood stock. The old method was to bed the action in an epoxy/Fiberglas mix inside the stock that would strengthen the wood-to-metal bond. The barrel channel was either bedded out to the end in glass or floated out with bedding material in the channel to keep it from warping and contacting the barrel. This was and still is one great way to improve the wood stock. The pillars take it a bit further and the aluminum gives even more strength. This gives the utility of a light wood stock for hunting and a good solid bedding job.
The action and barrel fit lower in the A-5 stock. The pistol grip and the dual-purpose butt hook help stabilize the rifle.
I re-barreled a Winchester Model 70 short action in .308 thinking to make a lightweight medium sized game-hunting rifle. When it came to the stock, I didn’t want to make it unduly heavy with a tactical stock. The wood was in good shape so I just machined out a couple pillars from some T6 aluminum stock and installed them with Acra-glas.
Brownells carries the pillars already made and all the resins to do the job; and it all comes with detailed instructions. The length of the stock was already fit to me and the scope mount I used was the perfect height for proper cheek weld.Some cheek adjustment can be made in mounting the scope.
Using higher or lower mounts can help and are worth looking into, especially on a non-adjustable cheek stock. This is quickly apparent with the AR-type rifles. With all the scope attachments on carry handles or flat tops, getting the correct cheek height is tough, especially if the rifle is set up for more precise shooting.
I like the Magpul adjustable stock for the AR.I mounted a Leupold Varmint scope to the flat top and couldn’t get my face low enough to see a proper sight picture. By raising the scope with a quick mount block and using the adjustable cheek piece on the Magpul, it now shoulders quickly with a good sight picture.
Although rifles may differ slightly because of the preferred utility of the tool, there are some factors that can be beneficial to the shooter’s performance.
I like my rifles to be as accurate as possible no matter what the purpose, and with all the options to choose from, proper fit and solid bedding are going to be my first concerns. As far as color and finish, unless it is for a specific purpose, I leave fashion to my wife.
The resolution was introduced by Belleview resident Donny Barber. As written, it encouraged, “all law abiding citizens to own a handgun, rifle or shotgun and receive adequate training to become proficient in the use of and safe handling of the weapon so they are prepared to protect themselves and their families.”
Additionally, the resolution called on homeowners to, “maintain a firearm, together with ammunition” in order “to provide for the emergency management” of the city, as well as “to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare” of the community.
Going from a resolution to an actual law will require two steps. This week “Commissioners would have to vote to direct staff to draft the document in the city's official format,” the Star-Banner noted. “If they agree to that, the resolution would come back a second time in September for final adoption.”
Looking to go armed, but are stuck in the weeds as to what to arm yourself with? Here are 20 excellent concealed carry gun options that will keep you on the defensive.
After four decades in the U.S. Senate, Ted Kennedy’s life ended, as all lives do, in death. In his time in the Senate, he sponsored or pushed to make law virtually every piece of anti-gun legislation possible.
