Month: July 2003

KevinLeave a comment

Emperor Misha Addresses an Excellent Question

As you all know, we Americans are extremely proud of being the freest country on the planet, and rightfully so.

But sometimes I fear that we fail to state exactly why we feel that way. To us, I suspect, it’s just so self-evident that we don’t really feel a need to remind ourselves and each other just why it’s so.

I can’t help but thinking that maybe we should. I think it would be healthy for us to do so more, actually, because the unique privileges we enjoy because we’re American shouldn’t be taken for granted. Thousands of people line up every year to earn the privilege of becoming part of our family (I should know. I was once one of them, after all).

[snip]

Tomorrow we’ll all be celebrating the Birth of Our Nation.

Wouldn’t tonight be a perfect time to reflect upon just why and what it is that we celebrate?

I rather think so.

Take it away, Loyal Citizenry. I can’t wait to read your input.

Go to the post. Leave a comment.

Make it a good one.

KevinLeave a comment

Well THIS is an Interesting Question.

New blogger Wince and Nod asks:

Sofia Sideshow commented a while back about how a shotgun is Hollywood’s weapon of choice when it comes to dealing with monsters. I wonder what Rachel Lucas, Kim du Toit or Kevin Baker at The Smallest Minority would have to say about this.

This is reminiscent of the oft-recurring question “What caliber is best for defeating flesh-eating zombies?” that somebody brings up on AR15.com at least once every two or three months.

Sofia Sideshow’s site puts it this way:

Shotguns are also good demon-killing tools. Shotguns are really the action-movie Leatherman. They’re so useful. Aliens, Terminators, Demons, Raptors…whoever grabs the shotgun at the “we better grab some weapons” part of a movie usually lives.

To go along with that, I’ve got a quotation archived by a “K.R. Murphy”:

“There are precious few horror films that couldn’t be cut well short by a single loaded 12 gauge and someone with the sense to use it.”

Truer words…


“I like to keep this handy,” Click-CLACK! “for Close Encounters.” – Michael Biehn as Corporal Hicks,
with his (short-barrelled!) Ithaca Model 37 from Aliens

(In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a “shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length” at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument. Certainly it is not within judicial notice that this weapon is any part of the ordinary military equipment or that its use could contribute to the common defense.)

Sorry, just had to throw that in.


“This… is my BOOM STICK! It’s a twelve gauge double barreled
Remington, S-Mart’s top-of-the-line. You can find this in the
sporting goods department. That’s right this sweet baby was made in
Grand Rapids Michigan. Retails for about $109.95. It’s got a walnut
stock, cobalt blue steel and a hair trigger. That’s right. Shop
Smart. Shop S-mart”
Bruce Campbell as Ash from Army of Darkness

Just a couple of examples.

Shotguns are quite effective defensive weapons. That’s one reason that police cruisers were for years equipped with a riot gun. Nothing gets someone’s attention quite like racking the slide on a pump-action, and very little else makes as much an impression as 12 .33 caliber 00 buckshot pellets from a 12 gauge shell, or a 1-1/8 ounce slug.

At close range, the shotgun is a devastating weapon, even against the undead! No demon will remain unaffected after receiving the contents of both barrels of a boomstick, no zombie will be munching on your brain after you’ve removed his lower jaw with a well-aimed blast of buck, and even though you risk getting splashed with blood with a pH of zero, no alien exoskeleton will withstand a point-blank impact of a slug.

Of course, not too much is effective against the polymer alloy of a T-1000 Terminator, but a shotgun at least slows one down – more than a 9mm Europellet anyway.

I think the defensive shotgun is an excellent choice against goblins of all types, which is one reason I own one of these:


Mossberg 590

But mine has the Speedfeed stock that holds four spare rounds. Magazine capacity: Nine rounds of 2-3/4″ shells. Barrel: 20″, evil baby-killing heatshield, and (gasp!) bayonet lug for the M-9 bayonet. I keep a box of #4 buck (25 .24 caliber pellets) for mine, and a couple of slugs in the stock just in case I need to stop a charging rhino. Or demon.

Thanks for asking.

KevinLeave a comment

Isn’t This Nice: Sean Penn Gets One of His Guns Back

In April, Sean Penn’s Buick Grand National was stolen while he ate lunch at a Berkley restaurant, and in it were two handguns, a 9mm Glock and a .38 revolver. Turns out that Mr. Penn (who has a conviction for assault and spent a month in jail for it) has a California concealed-carry permit! The car was recovered five days later, but not the guns.

Well, at least one of them has turned up, and Mr. Penn is going to get it back. The Glock might have turned up. A Glock matching Penn’s was found, but it has spent at least a month in the ocean and barnacles obscure the serial number. Per the article:

Police said there is no evidence that Penn’s .38 was involved in any crimes, and it will likely be returned to the actor, who is currently filming his latest movie called “The Assassination of Richard Nixon” in Oakland.

“We were pleased to have recovered one of Mr. Penn’s guns, and of course we’re always pleased when we can get any gun off the streets.”

OFF the street? I thought that people with CCW’s put more guns on the streets!

I cannot help but wonder if, should this have happened to John Q. Public (who probably would have had a much harder time getting a CCW), would the police have been so enthusiastic about giving it back?

I feel safer already.

If You Didn’t See This in the Carnival of the Vanities…

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Read it now. Via Nikita Demosthenes, Orson Scott Card’s article Moral Stupidity. Money quote:

It makes me ashamed of the Democratic Party that this seems to be the only moral process available to the party’s leadership. I used to call myself a “Moynihan Democrat.”

But now that he’s dead, I’m reduced to calling myself a “Tony Blair Democrat.”

That’s because I cannot find a single leader in the Democratic Party who is capable of acting on the basis of what is right, rather than what will make our side win.

A Democratic Party that had any honor at all would not be filibustering judicial appointments, making a mockery of the President’s constitutional authority to appoint federal judges with the approval of a simple majority of the Senate.

But “honor,” like “patriotism,” is a word that the Democratic Party mocks except when they wrap themselves in it to make themselves immune to attack.

I’ve seen the high dudgeon of Democratic leaders saying, “How dare he say that I’m not patriotic!” Even though that very Democrat has been heard to complain that “patriotism” is an outmoded and dangerous idea.

Likewise, Democrat leaders can’t speak of honor without embarrassment — except when they want to accuse Republicans of accusing them of being dishonorable.

So now these same people of the American Left have decided that the Palestinians are “our team” and therefore even their worst atrocities are to be declared as being “no worse than” what the Israelis do in their own defense.

The same moral geniuses who could find nothing wrong in Bill Clinton’s endless lying, in Hillary Clinton’s criminal manipulation of the futures market, in Al Gore’s cynical attempt to subvert a free election by changing the rules after the fact — they now stand in judgment of Israel and declare them “no better than” terrorists.

Much, much more crunchy goodness.

I’ve always liked Orson Scott Card, although I find his fiction writing hit-or-miss.

KevinLeave a comment

The Global Disarmament of the Law Abiding Continues…

First, for your reading displeasure, Rachel Lucas has an excellent post about Australia’s latest exercise in futility idiocy, their second gun “buyback” – done in complete disregard of the documented results of the last “buyback.”

And our neighbors to the North now have a whole lot more criminals in their midst. Their registration deadline ran out Monday, so an estimated 300,000 new criminals exist!

Don’t you feel safer already?

“I Know, Let’s Make Guns REALLY Illegal!!”

KevinLeave a comment

Britain’s Evening Mail provides the following wrenching and earnest op-ed piece, Let’s end gun misery:

The anguished mothers of Birmingham’s New Year party victims will brief a powerful body of MPs on the problems of gun crime in Britain’s inner cities.

Six months to the fateful day their daughters were shot, Beverley Thomas and Marcia Shakespeare are to give evidence to the group.

Pals Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare were gunned down outside a city hair salon when gangsters opened fire on a crowd of partygoers.

Charlene’s twin Sophie and a fourth girl, Cheryl Shaw, were injured in the same incident.

What they don’t tell you is that the shooter used a submachine gun – illegal to possess in England since the 1930’s. But they’re available on the black market along with other goodies like hand grenades.

Now the mothers will tell politicians of the heart-rending and long-lasting impact gun crime has had on them and the community.

Perry Barr MP Khalid Mah-mood told the Evening Mail: “It has taken a lot for both these women to take such a public stand and we should applaud them for that.

“They are standing out, demanding justice and refusing to be silenced.

And apparently risking getting killed for speaking up, since the criminals don’t seem to fear the police very much.

“They are a credit to the community and we will be interested to hear their views on tackling the menace of guns and the gang culture that spawns such violence.

“Also, I want to hear about how they have coped over these past six months, especially with having to bring up young children as well.”

Their appearance comes a week after West Midlands Assistant Chief Constable Nicholas Tofiluk told the same Commons all-party parliamentary group how Birmingham’s image was being soured by gun crime.

He said: “A long-term issue that needs to be addressed is that in some parts of the city there is an emergent culture that sees guns as part of a lifestyle.

“These are issues the police alone cannot affect.” The MPs launched an inquiry following a nationwide “surge” in violence involving firearms over recent years.

Police on London’s Operation Trident, West Midlands’ Operation Ventara and Manchester Gang Strategy Unit have also given evidence.

Now, bear in mind that this is in a country where there are only about 600,000 legal shotgun owners and about 125,000 legal rifle owners, and ZERO legal handgun owners or submachine owners, or “assault rifle” owners outside the government. (The London police did recently upgun to the H&K G36 assault rifle.) And the legal ownership levels are declining each year.

But NOW there’s a SURGE of firearms involved violence. NOW there’s an “emergent gun culture.”

No, they killed the good “gun culture” and are left with the unfettered bad one.

What’s next, really really banning guns?

Let’s really end “gun misery” in England – teach people to defend themselves, and then let them carry and keep guns in the home. Nothing else seems to work. Banning sure as hell proved useless.

KevinLeave a comment

Build a Better Mousetrap…

At last Saturday’s AR15.com Casa Grande shoot, one of the guys showed up with his new invention, the SST-870:

His description:

Introducing the SST-870 AR15 buttstock adapter for the Remington 870 shotgun.

Features:

1) Allows the shooter to have proper cheek weld when using red dot optics on the shotgun. Optics can be mounted via the picatinny rail, which runs the length of the 870 receiver, or via other after market scope mounts.

2) Uses any AR15 style stock. The multitude of AR15 style stocks on the market will allow users to fit the shotgun to themselves and to their intended use for the shotgun.

3) Uses any AR15 style pistol grip. The user can switch grips as necessary to meet their personal preference.

4) Attachment point on left and right hand side of the SST-870 for Uncle Mike’s QD sling swivels.

5) Easier cross training for law enforcement and military personnel issued AR15s/M16 rifles, as well as competition shooters who use AR15 style rifles

6) Stock inline with the bore reduces felt recoil

Construction:

1) SST-870 adapter piece is machined from T6 aluminum and mil-spec type III hard coat anodized for wear resistance and long service life

2) Optics mounting rail is machined to M1913 picatinny spec from T6 aluminum for mounting of red dot optics such as the OKO pictured or other sights. The rail is also mil-spec type III hard coat anodized.

I found that I couldn’t get proper cheek weld to use the red dot with the existing stock. The OKO sight was very fast to use on the shotgun but the stock hindered its ability to be used effectively…I knew if I could get an inline style AR stock on the 870 it would allow me to use the red dot sight effectively.

When Cavalry Arms started manufacturing AR15 buttstocks the idea became more feasible in my mind, but the thing holding me back was money to get the project going. Cavalry Arms was interested, but because they were bringing other products online R&D money for it was unavailable.

Last fall FN came out with the Police Shotgun and I had one of those “ah the bastards got it done before me” moments…but with a retail price tag of $700-$800 and availability as only a dedicated unit, I knew there was room for improvement. I also thought the A2 AR15 sights on a shotgun were somewhat of an over kill. I believed that an adapter to go on existing shotguns people already own was a better idea.

So I started actively pursuing the idea myself just before SHOT Show 2003. I recently acquired a loan and from the time I had the money in hand to first production article was 6 weeks. I haven’t spoken of the project publicly before because of the uncertainty of when it would be completed, and I did not want to give a heads up to any competition.

The first production run of 50 SST-870 adapters and rails is being machined right now. If everything goes according to plan they should be shipping in at most 3 weeks….I say “should be” because Murphy’s law likes to happen quite frequently in manufacturing. However, I don’t see any problems arising.

Design work on a model for the Mossberg 590/500 will be started at the end of the first production run of SST-870s.

Which is too cool, because I own a 590 myself. Can you say “Patent?”

Here’s the first production run out of the machine shop:

And here it is at the shoot, being test driven:

As you can see, it really relocates the bore centerline lower. Everyone who tried it really liked it. Unfortunately, I was too busy shooting clay pigeons with my Enfield. Maybe next time!