Month: January 2013

The Appropriate Response to Gun “Buybacks”

Zerg539 sent me another great story via Twitter. The Seattle Police Department decided to setup its first gun “buyback” in 20 years. I put the phrase buyback in quotation marks because the name is an exercise in Orwellian doublespeak. Buying something back implies you originally owned it but, with the exception of some police surplus guns, the Seattle Police Department never owned the firearms they’re trying to buy. Therefore calling it a gun buyback is incorrect, it’s really a gun acquisition. Thankfully local gun owners decided two could play at that game:

Police officers in Seattle, Washington held their first gun buyback program in 20 years this weekend, underneath interstate 5, and soon found that private gun collectors were working the large crowd as little makeshift gun shows began dotting the parking lot and sidewalks. Some even had “cash for guns” signs prominently displayed.

Police stood in awe as gun enthusiasts and collectors waved wads of cash for the guns being held by those standing in line for the buyback program.
People that had arrived to trade in their weapons for $100 or $200 BuyBack gift cards($100 for handguns, shotguns and rifles, and $200 for assault weapons) soon realized that gun collectors were there and paying top dollar for collectible firearms. So, as the line for the chump cards got longer and longer people began to jump ship and head over to the dealers.

This is the appropriate response to gun buyback programs. State operated gun “buyback” programs are an exercise in using tax money to purchase firearms from unsuspecting individuals (the programs primarily target criminals who want to dispose of crime guns, since the police outright state that no attempt to trace the firearms will be made and that the firearms are destroyed, and those who inherited firearms and are ignorant of their true value). The best way to demonstrate the state’s attempt to rip off gun owners is to offer a better price for firearms. If the state says they’ll give $200 for “assault rifles” you need only offer a little more than $200, unless the rifle is scrap metal, in which case you let the state buy it. I’m glad to see the act of gun owners swarming state “buybacks” continues to increase in popularity.

PMC Ammunition Review

Like numerous other gun bloggers I was contacted by Anthony at LuckyGunner with an offer of free ammunition in exchange for a review. My guess is that these offers are being sent out as part of a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. I’m OK with that, offering free ammunition in exchange for a writeup that gives another link to LuckyGunner is a perfectly fair trade in my opinion. Unfortunately due to holiday craziness and rather unpleasant weather it took me some time to get to the point of actually testing the ammunition. LuckyGunner sent me 100 rounds of PMC .45 Auto, which I tested in my Glock 30SF, Glock 21, and Beretta CX4 (because I’m the only person dumb enough to get a CX4 in .45 Auto). Due to the weather we’re currently subjected to in Minnesota I did a simple function test. That is to say I just tested if the ammunition worked or not, I didn’t haul out my chronography to get muzzle velocity reading. Needless to say the ammunition worked in all three guns without any trouble. Granted my Glocks have eaten everything I’ve fed them and my CX4 only gets cranky when fed Wolf ammunition so I wasn’t expected any problems.

With all of that said there is one thing I want to mention about PMC .45 Auto ammunition, they use large pistol primers. I reload almost all of my own ammunition and have noticed several companies moving to small pistol primers for their .45 Auto brass. This move pisses me off because nothing puts the brakes on a reloading run like a brass case refusing to accept a primer. One of my biggest criteria for .45 Auto ammunition is whether or not the brass uses large pistol primers. If the brass does use large pistol primers it’s good, if it uses small pistol primers it’s bad. This is because .45 Auto, being a low pressure cartridge, can be reloaded numerous times. Buying factory ammunition is a painful ordeal because it involves paying far more than I can reload for so I try to recoup some of the costs in reloading the casings. The more times I can reload a case the more of my costs I can recoup.

In conclusion I have no problem recommending PMC ammunition. It functions and the cases can be reloaded, which are my only two major criteria.

Perhaps It’s Time Gun Companies Started Their Own Bank

It appears that the gun control advocates have found a new way to strike at gun stores. Several gun stores have noted trouble processing credit card transactions. Early last year Bank of America caused some headaches for firearms manufacturer McMillian:

Bank of America is alleged to have advised McMillan Fiberglass Stocks that, because it now manufactures firearms, its business is no longer welcome. The bank has denied the allegation. It’s quickly becoming a case of “he said/he said,” with some gun owners expressing skepticism, others accepting the report as true.

Last week a Tennessee gun dealer said they were also having problems with their credit card processor:

A Williamson County gun dealer recently learned a credit card processing company no longer wants to do business with him.

“We go through all the hoops and all the steps and at the end of the day it’s still a struggle to get the same services anybody else would,” said Nick McMillan.

Whether these previous issues have been due to pressure from gun control groups is unknown but Rahm Emanuel, the new kind of Chicago, is openly urging banks to cease doing business with members of the firearms industry:

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, moving to take a lead role in the gun control debate, is turning up the pressure on banks that do business with firearms manufacturers.

Emanuel is sending letters to two major financial institutions, TD Bank and Bank of America, which offer lines of credit to gun makers suggesting that they stop lending money to the manufacturers if they don’t come out for new gun restrictions.

“TD Bank currently aids the gun manufacturing industry through a $60 million revolving line of credit with Smith & Wesson, a gun manufacturer that produces the AR-15 — an assault weapon that was used by James Holmes to kill 12 people and wound 58 in a crowded movie theatre in Aurora,” Emanuel’s missive to TD CEO Bharat Masrani states. “I ask you to use your influence to push this company to find common ground with the vast majority of Americans who support a military weapons and ammunition ban and comprehensive background checks.”

Perhaps it’s time for the firearms industry to create a mutual aid organization specifically aimed at providing financial assistance to fellows in the firearms industry. If you read about the history of mutual aid you’ll learn that groups that were unable to get financial assistances from established banks would pool their resources for the purpose of creating their own system of financial assistance. The state has very strong ties with the banking industry and those ties are a weak point between the firearms industry and capital loans. Rahm is trying to exploit these ties now and it would be wise for firearms manufacturers to create a backup plan. The less dependent the firearms industry is one state control industries the better.

Feinstein’s Gun Control Legislation

The text of Feinstein’s new “assault weapon” ban is now available. I’ve only had time to skim it but some things to note is that the number of “military features” required to label a semi-automatic rifle an “assault weapon” has been reduced from the 1994’s two to one. There is also a very lengthy list of named firearms that will be prohibited and the law would require specific storage regulations for grandfathered “assault weapons.” Overall it’s a tyrants dream is probably isn’t passable in its current form. With that said the bill is likely a launching point for negotiation. In other words it’s supposed to be a bill that’s so heinous gun rights advocates will come begging for some additional freedom at the expense of others.

Not Exactly the Million Mom March

This weekend gun control advocates had their little match on Washington DC. Most news organizations seem tight lipped regarding the number of people who participated in the march but it doesn’t seem like it garnered much support:

Thousands of people have rallied in Washington DC calling for stricter gun controls as they marched from the Capitol to the Washington Monument.

Gun control advocates were only able to get thousands of attendees? That’s rather, well, pathetic. Here in Minnesota we had roughly 1,200 gun rights advocates march on the state Captiol on a cold windy winter day. It seems that gun control isn’t nearly as popular as it once was, which is good to see.

How We Got Here

Feinstein introduced here new pet gun control bill, New York passed one of the most draconian gun control bills in the country, several gun control bills are being introduced in Maine, and the rest of the country seems to be following suit. One must ask how we, as gun owners, came to this point. Isn’t the right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the Constitution? Isn’t self-defense the right of all sentient beings? Don’t gun control laws go against the idea that the United States is a land of laws? How did we get here?

We got here through obedience. When the state said they were going to mandate gun owners register certain firearms gun owners threw up a bit of a fuss but ultimately registered those firearms. When the state said it was going to completely prohibit the transfer of any machine guns not registered by May 19, 1986 gun owners throw up a bit of a fuss but ultimately ceased transferring machine guns registered after the cutoff date. When the state said it was going to prohibit the sale of newly manufactured magazines holding more than 10 rounds to civilians gun owners threw up a bit of a fuss but ultimately stopped selling newly manufactured magazines holding more than 10 rounds to civilians.

The reason we’re here today is because gun owners of the past have rolled over and complied with proposed gun control laws. When the first gun control law was passed in this country gun owners should have began an active campaign of civil disobedience to make it known that no gun control laws would be respected. Sadly a precedence was set when gun owners complied with the first, second, third, and every other gun control law that has been passed in this country. Now we’re at a point where gun control laws not only have legal precedence but are socially acceptable by a vast majority of the populace. What makes matters worse is that it’s happening all over again. Gun owners have responded to the above mentioned gun control proposals by marching to state capitols, giving speeches about the importance of gun rights, holding gun rights rallies where they urge everybody to contact politicians and beg them to oppose any new gun control legislation, and offered no sign that they will actively resist any new gun control laws. Compliance is the problem because so long as gun owners are willing to comply with new gun control laws the state will continue to pass and enforce them.

Once again I urge gun owners to consider civil disobedience instead of compliance. So long as gun owners are compliant they will find more and more of their guns, ammunition, and firearm accessories seized by the state. If you want to see the logical conclusion of compliance you need only look at Britain.

Beginning Tomorrow Unlocking Your Phone Will Again be Illegal

Here’s a question to ponder for a moment, is your cell phone yours? You paid for it, you pay for the plan that makes it useful, you have it in your possession, and you store your personal data on it so obviously it’s yours, right? Wrong. Your cell phone belongs to the state, which is why, beginning tomorrow, you could be kidnapped and locked in a cage for unlocking the phone in your pocket:

The clock to unlock a new mobile phone is running out.

In October 2012, the Librarian of Congress, who determines exemptions to a strict anti-hacking law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), decided that unlocking mobile phones would no longer be allowed. But the librarian provided a 90-day window during which people could still buy a phone and unlock it. That window closes on January 26.

Unlocking a phone frees it from restrictions that keep the device from working on more than one carrier’s network, allowing it run on other networks that use the same wireless standard. This can be useful to international travellers who need their phones to work on different networks. Other people just like the freedom of being able to switch carriers as they please.

How could the act of unlocking “your” cell phone be illegal? In the name of defending the legal fiction of intellectual property the state passed a law known as the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), which made it a criminal act to circumvent Digital Rights Management (DRM). In 2009 the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was able to get an exemption in the DMCA for unlocking cell phones but those exemptions must be renewed periodically and the state apparently has no desire to renew such an exemption. Just remember that you live in a free country where the right to property is guaranteed by the Constitution. Oh, and we’ve always been at war with Eastasia.

The FDA Moving to Protect Cigarette Companies

The State and Cigarette Companies have been having clandestine romantic encounters for decades now. While The State claims to have left Cigarette Companies, who it endearingly refers to as Big Tobacco, forever they continue to setup romantic encounters in seedy motels. On the surface this behavior may seem confusing but when you look at the big picture this behavior makes a great deal of sense. The State isn’t a very faithful partner and likes to moonlight with The People as well. Unfortunately for The State, The People hate Big Tobacco and have continuously demanded that The State leave him. Fortunately for Big Tobacco, The State greatly enjoys his gifts of lobbyist money, lobbyist jobs for The State’s friends, and tax money. Because of this The State continues to protect Big Tobacco, which is why it called one of its best friends, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to stomp out some of Big Tobacco’s competition:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to oversee electronic cigarettes marketed for non-therapeutic use as tobacco products after a court ruled the products can’t be regulated as drugs or medical devices.

The FDA will propose subjecting e-cigarette companies to rules that already cover the makers of regular cigarettes, such as providing the government with lists of product ingredients, the agency said today in a letter on its website.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington said in December the FDA can regulate e-cigarettes only as tobacco products if they aren’t marketed for therapeutic purposes. The ruling meant that while the agency can review new e-cigarette products before they go on sale, it can’t require manufacturers to conduct the types of animal and human studies mandated for FDA approval of drugs or medical devices.

“The government has decided not to seek further review of this decision, and FDA will comply with the jurisdictional lines established” by the ruling, Lawrence Deyton, director of the agency’s Center for Tobacco Products, and Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in today’s letter.

E-Cigarettes hasn’t been very good to The State. Unlike Big Tobacco, E-Cigarettes hasn’t showered The State in gifts of lobbyist and tax money. The State, being a vengeful bitch, has finally found a way to get back at E-Cigarettes by getting the FDA to regulate him under the same rules that regulate Big Tobacco. Big Tobacco, being extremely wealthy, doesn’t mind paying a little extra money to do business but really hates that E-Cigarettes has been taking business away by offering Big Tobacco’s customers a method of getting their nicotine fix without all the additional harmful chemicals found in Big Tobacco’s products. However E-Cigarettes, not being as wealthy as Big Tobacco, may find itself going bankrupt under these new regulations.

Once again we learn that The State is not only a whore but a whore that is protective of its lovers.

NYPD to Begin Deploying Terahertz Scanners to Detect Carried Firearms

Earlier this year New York City’s so-called “stop and frisk” policy, which involved police officers stopping random serfs and frisking them without evidence of wrongdoing, was ruled unconstitutional. Now that the ruling has had some time to sink in we can look at what has changed for those living in New York City. First a judge decided to lift the ban on “stop and frisk” making the ruling entirely irrelevant. In addition to being allowed to resume “stoping and frisking” the New York Police Department (NYPD) is also deploying terahertz scanners to detect if individuals are carrying firearms:

Get ready for scan-and-frisk.

The NYPD will soon deploy new technology allowing police to detect guns carried by criminals without using the typical pat-down procedure, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Wednesday.

The department just received a machine that reads terahertz — the natural energy emitted by people and inanimate objects — and allows police to view concealed weapons from a distance.

“If something is obstructing the flow of that radiation, for example a weapon, the device will highlight that object,” Kelly said.

A tip of the hat goes to Paul Blincow for e-mailing me this story.

I briefly discussed these scanners, and their health effects, last year. It seems that the NYPD was merely looking for an excuse, such as a court ruling against “stop and frisk,” to justify the purchase and deployment of these potential DNA shredders. Of course it’s all being done in the name of disarming the slaves safety.