Jan 262012
 

This comes from Pravda, so take it for what it’s worth:

Russia unveils fifth-generation Kalashnikov assault rifle

Russia’s largest firearms manufacturer, JSC Izhmash, unveiled its first model of the fifth-generation Kalashnikov assault rifle. The new rifle is tentatively called AK-12. … The Picatinny rails were integrated in the construction of the AK-12. The rails are used to mount additional equipment: optical, collimating and night sights, mexometer, grenade launchers, lights, target indicators and other equipment.

If you’re like me, you read that and immediately wondered… “Wait, what? A ‘mexometer’?”  And no, I’ve no idea what it is. The AK-12 is said to be primarily for the export market, so… maybe it’s a special add-on to make it more salable to the Juarez drug cartels?

 Posted by at 11:58 am
Jan 262012
 

I don’t like coffee.  So I don’t drink it (a lesson, here, for all those who are easily offended by various things). Since I don’t drink coffee, I don’t buy coffee. Since I don’t buy coffee, I don’t frequent businesses that focus on coffee. Thus, I’ve never been in a Starbucks establishment. However, I believe that on Valentine’s Day I shall find a Starbucks and buy a muffin or something. Why? Because the fascists in the anti-liberty industry have targetted Starbucks.

Boycott of Starbucks to launch on Valentine’s Day: End “open carry” gun policy

A nationwide boycott of Starbucks stores and its products will be launched on Valentine’s Day 2012. Its goal is to eliminate the risk of guns in public places and ultimately to bring sane gun laws to the U.S. … Currently, Starbucks allows guns and assault weapons to be openly carried in its stores (in 43 states) and concealed and carried in its stores (in 49 states) … “Starbucks allowing guns to be carried in thousands of their stores significantly increases everyone’s risk of being a victim of gun violence,” says Elliot Fineman, C.E.O. of the NGAC. “Open and conceal and carry are among the reasons there are 12,000 gun homicides each year in the U.S.  If we had England’s gun laws we would expect 375 gun homicides each year — 97% less than we have. England’s gun laws are based on protecting public safety, ours on maximizing sales for the gun industry.”

Behold the stupidity and downright evil of the gun-grabbers. They want to control your lives, and they are willing to lie to your face to get you to give up your rights.

 Posted by at 8:33 am
Jan 052012
 

See if you agree with me that a minor error might have been made here:

Navy SEAL accidentally shoots self in head

A 22-year-old Navy SEAL was gravely wounded early today when he shot himself in the head at his Pacific Beach home while trying to convince a companion that the pistol he was showing off was safe to handle, authorities said.

I may not have had SEAL training, but I suspect that somewhere along the line there may have been a suggestion made to not point a gun at your own head and pull the trigger. I could be wrong, though.

 Posted by at 11:53 pm
Jan 032012
 

Marine faces 15 years behind bars for unknowingly violating gun law

Short form: a former Marine faces between 2 and 15 years for doing a legal thing: possessing a firearm. He even had a valid concealed carry license.

Americans should not fear that if they drive over an arbitrary line within their own nation they will go from a law-abiding citizen in good standing to a criminal. New York, however, feels otherwise, and should be avoided at all cost.

 Posted by at 6:57 pm
Dec 272011
 

Yay!

Gun sales at record levels, according to FBI background checks

In December – which ain’t quite over – gun dealers made 1,534,414 inquiries  to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). On December 23 there were 102,222 background checks. There were 129,166 background checks on the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest gun-buying day in US history. Apparently there were a whole lot of firearms given as Christmas presents… hopefully many of them were  to new gunowners. The best thing would be a widening of the gunowner base, rather than just a deepening of it.

 Posted by at 5:54 pm
Dec 242011
 

This comes from TMZ, so take it for what it’s worth:

‘Sons of Guns’ Stars — Punished By the Feds for MAJOR Firearms Violations

It *seems* that the owners of Red Jacket Firearms – of “Sons of Guns” fame – screwed up something royal back in 2009. Whether it’s Constitutional or not (and I’d say “not”), the BATF demands that anyone manufacturing firearms must have a Federal Firearms License. One of the fun facts about FFLs is that if you have one, you give up your right to not have to undergo unwarranted searches… those with FFLs can expect to have federal agents show up unexpectedly and demand to see any damn thing they want. Again, seems horribly unConstitutional, but it’s the way things are. But apparently the Feds showed up at Red Jacket in 2009, and found that ten firearms that were supposed to be there weren’t.

While it’s perfectly ok for the BATF to lose track of firearms (or just outright send them to foreign criminals), they take a dim view of FFL holders misplacing firearms. So they yanked the FFLs of William Hayden (owner of RJF, and star of the show) and his daughter Stephanie. Without FFLs, RJF would simply have to have gone out of business. The only way to keep in business was to actually install someone else with an FFL as head of the company. This other person was Vincent Buckles, who was portrayed on the show just as one of the employees. But apperently *he* was actually legally in charge of the company.

Notice the use of past tense: he *was* in charge. But it seems he quit. Which means some other FFL holders (not named in the TMZ story) are now in charge.

Must be a hell of a thing to have to turn operations of your company over to one of your employees. But lose a few guns, you gotta expect this sort of thing.

 Posted by at 8:51 pm
Dec 232011
 

When I was a young’un, “New York City” was synonymous with “crime-riddled hellhole.” But that started to change in 1984, when a lone goofball by name of Bernie Goetz plugged four attempted muggers on a train and became a national hero. He didn’t kill any of them (though he did paralyze one), and three went on to recover from their wounds and continue with wasted lives of crime. One of them, James Ramseur, went on to join in the rape of a pregnant 18-year-old woman, got arrested, and spent a relatively trivial 25 years in prison. He got out 17 months ago, and finally offed himself with a pill overdose yesterday.

One of Bernhard Goetz’s victims kills self on anniversary of subway shoot

Now if he’d only done this before December 22, 1984, he could have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble.
But on the other hand: had Ramseur not decided to try to shake down Geotz, then Goetz would likely not have shot them, and very likely would never have shot anyone. And that… might have been a *worse* situation. The crime situation in New York City began to get better a few years after the Goetz shooting, as people decided that not only was the situation unbearable, but they’d just been shown that there was another way. The incident resulted in the corrupt bureaucrats of NYC putting Goetz on trial for a great many things, such as attempted murder; but he was found guilty only of illegally possessing a firearm. And even that helped to spur the movement that has led to a nationwide liberalization of concealed-carry laws.
So even though three of the muggers went on to spread misery in their wakes, their run-in with one rather disturbing  (have you seen his interview with William Shatner? yeesh) loner almost three decades ago played a role in making America a less crime-riddled place.
 Posted by at 10:02 pm
Dec 222011
 

While I’m sure this will disturb the fascists, hoplophobes and defenselessness-fetishists, sometimes things work out:

Madison pays $10,000 to men who wore guns to restaurant

The city of Madison Wisconsin got sued and lost in federal court because the Madison PD arrested people for doing *legal* things. Sadly, the financial sums are pretty paltry… ten grand is not enough to really punish the city for violating such basic civil rights.

For the anti-gun nuts out there: imagine if the cops had arrested someone for carrying a *book* in public.

 Posted by at 9:59 am
Dec 212011
 

Gah.

Lights Out For The Airborne Laser

It’s apparently not *all* bad news. While the ABL has been making progress, it’s far over budget, and thus an obvious target for budget cuts. But the USAF claims to have entirely new laser technology coming down the pike which will allow similar laser capability to be put on unmanned aircraft (type undescribed) within a few years. If this means something akin to Global Hawk, then that would mean a rather staggering decrease in system mass, and presumably cost. Which would, at least in principle, allow the skies to be filled with laser-armed aircraft.

The F-35 would be an obvious platform… the bay for the forward lift-jet would make a dandy location for a laser. Without a major sensor upgrade, an F-35 based anti-missile system seems unlikely, but an F-35 based laser-ground-attack system seems possible. Such a laser system would also be an obvious addition to the weapons complement of the AC-130.

 Posted by at 9:38 am