Tag: Miscellaneous Gun Stuff

It’ll Get You Killed

How many times have you heard somebody tell you that USPSA will get you killed, IDPA will get you killed!, or some firearm instructor’s training will get you killed?

I don’t think any of those things will actually get you killed. You know what will get you killed? Living.

I think the shooting community needs to take the game of life less seriously. In the end, no matter what gun you carry or what kind of training you have, you’re not going to survive the game. Carry what you want, compete in whatever shooting sport(s) you want, seek out whatever training you want, and let everybody else enjoy themselves. We’re all dying so let’s not make life miserable for our fellow corpses in the making.

Do it Yourself Glock

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Man, I really want a Glock but I don’t want to register a firearm.” Fear not, the same man who brought up an AK receiver fabricated from an old shovel has now posed instructions for building a Glock frame out of scrap metal pieces.

Have I mentioned the fact that gun control is dead?

Caving My Skull in with a Face Palm

There may not be any stupid questions but there are stupid ideas. For example, if you designed a line of ammunition specifically for the purpose of offending one or more religions you have acted a stupid idea:

A group of Idahoans have gotten together to produce ammunition loaded with bullets dipped in pork-infused paint. Why you ask? They claim it will deter radical Islam terrorists from fighting if they run the risk of being hit in the stomach with a pork-paint tipped bullet, but most likely they did it because it is bound to offend Muslims (and maybe Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Rastafarians, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, Seventh-day Adventists and vegans as well).

[…]

On their website Jihawg say …

We at Jihawg Ammo hope you will stock up on Jihawg as a natural deterrent to the ever growing threat of radical Islam and Sharia Law. We, however, stress that the nullifying principle of our product is only effective if you are attacked by an Islamist in Jihad. Otherwise, our ammo functions just like any other ammunition so we obviously insist upon defensive use of our ammo only-not offensive.

I may have given myself brain damage from the massive face palm that follow reading this excerpt.

Classical Liberal and I discussed this matter briefly on Facebook and both noted that possessing this type of ammunition would be a prosecutor’s bonanza if you found yourself in court following a self-defense shooting. Convincing a jury that you meant no ill after shooting somebody with ammunition specifically targeted at a religious group is going to be a tough sell. Even if you didn’t use one of these rounds in self-defense but had some at home a prosecutor could effectively destroy your case by character assassination.

Obviously you’re free to buy it but do know that I will judge you negatively for doing so and so will a jury.

First USPSA Match of the Season

Last night we had our first United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) match at the Oakdale Gun Club. Due to the ammunition crisis I’ve been sitting on my stockpile in anticipation for USPSA, which means I haven’t shot for months (I did shoot a little last week but I was mostly at the range to help my girlfriend sight in here new AR-15). Surprisingly I didn’t suck as much as I thought I was going to. Although I did hit one no-shoot I’m fairly certain he was a Klan member or a Nazi so I think it was OK.

I also lacked the time to get a bunch of blog posts up for today so you’re not going to get much. If this bothers you feel free to incentive me to write more by paying me money.

You Can’t Stop the Signal

It finally happened, the state finally made it’s move to suppress 3D printable firearms:

On Thursday, Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson received a letter from the State Department Office of Defense Trade Controls Compliance demanding that he take down the online blueprints for the 3D-printable “Liberator” handgun that his group released Monday, along with nine other 3D-printable firearms components hosted on the group’s website Defcad.org, while it reviews the files for compliance with export control laws for weapons known as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR. By uploading the weapons files to the Internet and allowing them to be downloaded abroad, the letter implies Wilson’s high-tech gun group may have violated those export controls.

“Until the Department provides Defense Distributed with final [commodity jurisdiction] determinations, Defense Distributed should treat the above technical data as ITAR-controlled,” reads the letter, referring to a list of ten CAD files hosted on Defcad that include the 3D-printable gun, silencers, sights and other pieces. “This means that all data should be removed from public acces immediately. Defense Distributed should review the remainder of the data made public on its website to determine whether any other data may be similarly controlled and proceed according to ITAR requirements.”

I think we all knew this was coming. To tell the truth I hoped it would come. This was the overt act of censorship that was needed kick the Streisand effect into action and, in so doing, ensure that the 3D printer models created and hosted by Defense Distributed will never die. As it stands the number of seeds for the Defense Distributed files has jumped to several hundred. I’ve even found a Tor hidden service that is hosting the files (you need to use the Tor Browser Bundle to access that link). As I’ve heard several people say, you can’t stop the signal.

As I stated in my post explaining methods to render the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) irrelevant, the need for anonymity and strong encryption is greater today than ever. The state is trying to spy on our communications and censor material posted online. While some may wish to beg the state to allow information to flow freely we know they aren’t going to comply. Because of their desire to control information we must bypass their ability to detect and censor information they find objectionable.

When the state makes attempts like this to censor information it allows us to test our ability to preserve said information. As it stands more people have downloaded the 3D printer models provided by Defense Distributed than would have if the state hadn’t made an effort to censor the models. In fact I’ve had several friends who were uninterested in 3D printed guns ask if I knew where to get the files. Now that the files have been declared verboten everybody wants a copy. The state really shot themselves in the foot with this one.

Please Rob My House Signs

According to Minneapolis police thieves looking for guns are specifically targeting homes that have signs such as “This home protected by Smith and Wesson”:

Law enforcement officials say members of a north Minneapolis street gang are looking to burglarize homes that appear to contain guns. According to a search warrant request filed recently in Hennepin County District Court by investigators with the FBI Safe Streets Violent Gang Task Force, members of the Loud Pack gang, “target homes with American flags in the front yard because they believe these are homes or [sic] veterans and will have firearms inside them. Other items they take from these burglaries are sold on the street to various people to support the activates [sic] of the gang.”

The document doesn’t say how often gang members’ strategy for finding guns was successful. However, some say there’s a much easier way for burglars to find out which homes contain guns — the “This home protected by (insert your gun maker here)” sticker. Minneapolis police officials have told me those stickers can actually attract intruders, rather than repel them.

I’m not sure if the Minneapolis Police Department are basing this warning on a rash or recent burglaries or if they’re just trying to get people to pull down such signs because they’re making non-gun owning neighbors nervous but it’s good advice to not have such signs posted in my opinion. Those signs do give burglars notice that there is a high likelihood of firearms being inside and they merely need to stake out the home and wait until it’s empty to get their grubby mitts on them. It’s generally a bad idea to volunteer information to somebody looking to cause you harm.

3D Printed Firearm Technology Will Begin Advancing Quickly

I think we’re going to see a rapid advancement of 3D printed firearm technology now that Cody Wilson, the crypto-anarchist who is working to develop printable firearms while bypassing potential copyright laws, has a Type 7 Federal Firearms License (FFL):

On Saturday, Defense Distributed—America’s best-known group of 3D gunsmiths—announced on Facebook that its founder, Cody Wilson, now has a federal license to be a gun manufacturer and dealer. The group published a picture of the Type 7 federal firearms license (FFL) to prove it.

“The big thing it allows me to do is that it makes me manufacture under the law—everything that manufacturers are allowed to do,” he told Ars. “I can sell some of the pieces that we’ve been making. I can do firearms transactions and transport.”

Cody isn’t planning to stop with a simple manufacturing license though:

Currently, Wilson said he will not actually begin manufacturing and selling guns until he receives an “add-on” to his FFL, known as a Class 2 Special Occupational Taxpayer (SOT), as licensed under federal law (PDF). This would allow him to manufacture and deal a broader range of firearms under the National Firearms Act. The Class 2 SOT would grants Wilson the ability to manufacture, for example, a fully-automatic rifle. Wilson applied for the SOT on Saturday and expects to receive approval within a few weeks.

The primary advantage a manufacturing license has in regards to creating printable firearms is that it allows Cody to work on the project openly while legally seeking investors. In other words it keeps the state off of his back for a while. If Cody can build and test printable machine guns the technology of printable firearms in general is likely to advance leaps and bounds very quickly.

DEFCAD for Your Firearm Related 3D Printing Needs

Late last year it was announced that design files for firearm related objects would no longer be allowed on Thingverse. This decision came after 3D printer designs for AR-15 lowers were posted. In response Defense Distributed has launched DEFCAD, a site to host 3D printer designs for firearm related items. As of this writing designs for a shotshell holder, an AR-15 pistol grip, an AR-15 lower, and many other items are available.

The best thing about the Internet is the fact that no information posted to it can ever be completely killed. Despite Thingverse’s attempt to censor firearm related 3D printer designs they are still available.

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.

Firearm Laws in Minnesota

Firearm laws are often confusing. In fact many of the laws are so confusing that state officials fail to understand them. Via the January 2013 Oakdale Gun Club newsletter I was made aware of a guide [PDF] put out by the Research Department of the Minnesota House of Representatives that covers Minnesota’s gun laws. I haven’t had a chance to read the entire document but it may be of interest to Minnesota gunnies, especially those who are new to the shooting sports and those who haven’t research applicable laws to much extent.