The Fremont News-Messenger is reporting that the 2011 “First Shot” Ceremony at the NRA Rifle & Pistol Championships at Camp Perry, Ohio was a first in more ways than one – the…
The Ohio State Trapshoot – going strong and getting better
by Larry S. Moore
The Ohio State Trapshoot just completed the 125th annual state shoot and the sixth year at the Cardinal Center grounds near Marengo, Ohio. The previous grounds were in Vandalia until they were constricted by the City of Dayton for the never quite profitable airport expansion. Dayton’s greed and ultimate loss has turned out to be a boon for the shooting sports in Ohio.
The Ohio State Trapshooting Association (OSTA) and Cardinal Center continue to expand the competitive shooting program and events. There are now sporting clays and archery courses available at the grounds. The campground, which includes a recreation center and fishing pond, has expanded to over 500 sites. There are fishing derbies for the kids throughout the week. If shooting American style trap isn’t enough of a challenge, shooters can try breaking the even swifter target from the Olympic style bunker traps. The Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) for youth shot on Monday with teams competing for the opportunity to represent Ohio at the Grand American Trapshoot in August.
OSTA President Brad Dysinger, a Hall of Fame trap shooter notes, “The Ohio State Shoot is now the second largest trapshooting event in the country, second only to the Grand American.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Mr. Helmke
The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette is
NSSF ACTION ALERT: Gun Trace Data Under Attack in Congress [UPDATED]
In the wake of the Fast and Furious scandal and a decision by the Department of Justice to approve multiple sales reporting of long guns along the Southwest border, last night Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA-29) announced his intention to offer an amendment that would strip from an appropriations bill an important law enforcement protection, known as the Tiahrt Amendment, that safeguards law enforcement-only firearms tracing data. The Schiff amendment would allow access to law enforcement trace data by those outside of law enforcement. Rep. Michael Honda (D-CA-15) will offer an amendment supported by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg that will continue the recently launched regulatory assault on the firearms industry.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation — the trade association for America’s firearms industry — is urging all members of industry, sportsmen, gun-owners and firearms enthusiasts to call Rep. Harold Rogers (R-VA-10), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee at (202) 225-2771 and urge the committee to VOTE NO on the Schiff and Honda amendments, and any other amendments that undermine the law enforcement protections provided for in the Tiahrt Amendment and any anti-gun amendments that would place additional and costly regulatory burdens on members of the firearms industry.
Public disclosure of gun trace data, including to elected officials, is dangerous. That is why several years ago Congress approved further restrictions on the access and use of this data in order to safeguard law enforcement and ensure compliance with provisions of the federal Gun Control Act. The measures ensure that the data remain only in the hands of law enforcement for criminal investigations and prosecutions.
The best argument for restricting access to this data is a well-known elected official from New York City. Several years ago, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had the NYPD inappropriately obtain trace data not for a criminal investigation but for use in preparing a civil lawsuit. He turned the data over to private eyes who conducted so-called sting operations of out-of-state federally licensed firearms retailers. He did so without the knowledge of ATF or even his own police commissioner. As a result, Mayor Bloomberg interfered with as many as 18 ongoing criminal investigations, jeopardizing the lives of law enforcement officers, informants, witnesses and others. In fact, ATF was forced to pull agents out of field for their own protection.
The Honda amendment would impose significant cost to manufacturers by requiring them to manually and physically match each and ever single serial number of the firearms in inventory to the individual record entry in the manufacturer’s acquisition and distribution record causing the manufacturers to shut down their factory for lengthy time periods.
Obama’s Dept. of Justice seeks to distract from ‘Fast & Furious’ scandal with new reporting rules; NRA vows lawsuit
The Associated Press is reporting that Obama administration’s Department of Justice announced Monday that all gun shops in four Southwest border states will be required to alert the federal government to frequent…
Holder’s claims to have only just learned of Gunrunner proven false – by his own website
by Jim Shepherd
As the Operation Fast and Furious story continues, it seems the Attorney General of the United States has more than a little explaining to do over his having very little personal knowledge of the operation that knowingly allowed a large number of American-made firearms to be illegally purchased and transported across the border to Mexican criminals.
On May 3, Mr. Holder testified (as in stated under oath) to Representative Darrell Issa’s House Oversight and Government Reform committee that he only learned about the operation “in the last few weeks”.
Over the weekend, The Washington Examiner’s “Beltway Confidental” (http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/07/holder-bragged-about-operation-gunrunner-2009) reported that website Big Government (http://biggovernment.com/tag/gunrunner/) had quoted a speech in which Holder had, in fact, bragged about having overseen its implementation in 2009.
Holder, during a speech in Cuernavaca, Mexico on April 2, 2009, boasted about Operation Gunrunner, telling Mexican authorities everything he had done to ensure its success.
Here is an excerpt from that speech:
“Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner, DEA is adding 16 new positions on the border, as well as mobile enforcement teams, and the FBI is creating a new intelligence group focusing on kidnapping and extortion.”
—United States Attorney General Eric Holder speaking in Cuernavaca, Mexico, April 2, 2009
Maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t sound like the words of a man who’s blissfully ignorant of an operation that flooded Mexico with illegally purchased weapons. It does sound like someone bragging about winning a race before his horse crossed the finish line. Holder’s horse pulled up lame on July 4 when acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson decide to testify about Fast and Furious without having Justice Department counsel present to “advise him” on what he could-or couldn’t- say.
Another Ohio concealed handgun license-holder defends lives when attacked by armed robbers
WOIO (CBS Cleveland) is reporting that another concealed handgun license-holder was able to defend themselves and a companion when attacked by armed robbers. From the available here.
Shooting in defense of a third party
by Jim Irvine
Ohioans who carry a concealed firearm and obtain their Ohio concealed handgun license (CHL) have undergone training and read the Ohio Attorney General guidance on use of deadly force and self-defense. “Castle Doctrine” has made using such force much simpler to understand if defending your life or family member from someone breaking into your occupied home or vehicle, but life is not always simple.
In a recent article four men were reported to have robbed someone in an apartment complex. The victim suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder. A neighbor heard the commotion and responded to the scene with a gun in hand. One of the criminals allegedly fired at the good samaritan neighbor, who then returned fire, killing one of the aggressors. The three others have been arrested and are charged with murder.
Forgetting all the legalese for a minute, is this not what we as a society want from our fellow citizens? Such are the actions of heroes in movies. They save the day, protect the helpless victim against superior force and use their skills and tools to prevent further harm and help police remove bad people from our society. Life is good. We smile, we cheer, and we go on happy that justice is served.
But life is not like the movies. In real life, we must now deal with the law.
Madison, WI prosecutors drop charges filed against gun rights activists after open carry incident
Buckeye Firearms Foundation-supported civil rights lawsuit against city alive and well
On Monday, Sept. 27, 2010, Buckeye Firearms Association informed readers about the arrest of five members of Wisconsin Carry Inc., a state firearms rights group in Wisconsin, who were legally open carrying in their local Culvers restaurant when a dreaded “man with a gun” call was made to the local police. We announced an effort by the Buckeye Firearms Foundation to help the Wisconsin five pay for legal fees to fight the charges against them, to which BFF had already committed $2500 in matching funds.
Buckeye Firearms supporters responded immediately. By the end of the following day, more than twice the original goal of $2500 was raised, and on Wednesday Sept. 29 a check for $7,500 was mailed to Wisconsin Carry Inc.
That same day, Wisconsin Carry, Inc filed a Federal lawsuit against the City of Madison and Madison Police Chief Noble Wray. (A copy of this lawsuit is available here.)
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported recently that prosecutors have dismissed disorderly conduct charges issued against the five gun rights activists.
From the article:
“The only disturbance created on that Saturday evening was by a mass of uniformed Madison police officers and squads arriving to investigate law-abiding citizens having dinner,” said Christopher Van Wagner, a defense attorney hired by Wisconsin Carry, Inc. to defend the men.
According to Nik Clark, president of the group, the Madison City Attorney’s office on Thursday informed Wagner and Wisconsin Carry of its decision to dismiss the citations against all five men.
While the bogus charges against these men have been dropped, our friends at Wisconsin Carry Inc. are pleased to report that their civil rights lawsuit is still alive and well.
An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power
by Greg Ellifritz
I’ve been interested in firearm stopping power for a very long time. I remember reading Handguns magazine back in the late 1980s when Evan Marshall was writing articles about his stopping power studies. When Marshall’s first book came out in 1992, I ordered it immediately, despite the fact that I was a college student and really couldn’t afford its $39 price tag. Over the years I bought all of the rest of Marshall’s books as well as anything else I could find on the subject. I even have a first edition of Gunshot Injuries by Louis Lagarde published in 1915.
Are any of these better than another?
Every source I read has different recommendations. Some say Marshall’s data is genius. Some say it is statistically impossible. Some like big heavy bullets. Some like lighter, faster bullets. There isn’t any consensus. The more I read, the more confused I get.
One thing I remember reading that made a lot of sense to me was an article by Massad Ayoob. He came out with his own stopping power data around the time Marshall published Handgun Stopping Power. In the article, Ayoob took his critics to task. He suggested that if people didn’t believe his data, they should collect their own and do their own analysis. That made sense to me. So that’s just what I did. I always had a slight problem with the methodology of Marshall and Sanow’s work. For consistency purposes, they ONLY included hits to the torso and ONLY included cases where the person was hit with just a single round. Multiple hits screwed up their data, so they excluded them. This led to an unrealistically high stopping power percentage, because it factored out many of the cases where a person didn’t stop! I wanted to look at hits anywhere on the body and get a realistic idea of actual stopping power, no matter how many hits it took to get it. So I started collecting data.
Over a 10-year period, I kept track of stopping power results from every shooting I could find. I talked to the participants of gunfights, read police reports, attended autopsies, and scoured the newspapers, magazines, and Internet for any reliable accounts of what happened to the human body when it was shot.
I documented all of the data I could; tracking caliber, type of bullet (if known), where the bullet hit and whether or not the person was incapacitated. I also tracked fatalities, noting which bullets were more likely to kill and which were not. It was an exhaustive project, but I’m glad I did it and I’m happy to report the results of my study here.