Good news, bad news

Last week, while cleaning my 13 year old 9mm PT-92, I thought I found a crack in the lower frame. I called Taurus USA customer support and they said, "send it in. If it does have a crack we'll replace the pistol." At first I'm thinking YEAH!! I send in a 13 year old gun and get a new one in place of it.

Then I started thinking, I've had this for 13 years. I've used it for work and fun and it's now one of my CCW pieces. And, you can't get the wood grip panels with the gold Taurus medallion in it any more. The replacement would likely have either rubber, or rosewood grips, with no medallion. Damn, and these would not work on a current PT-92, as the safety has changed since then. DRAT.

Well, that was last week. This week, I go to a friend, who's an FFL dealer, and I was gonna have him send it in for me. He can get cheaper shipping. He also works with metal. And he looked at it and said, it's not cracked. It's a machine marking. He has better optics for this sort of thing, so he showed me. And sure enough, it's not a crack!

So, bad news is, I don't get a new gun. Good news is, I get to keep my 13 year old PT-92, special NON-Replaceable wood grip panels and all. :D

Some might ask, why all the concern. This pistol has saved my life 3 different times, just by my having it with me. It has never fired a shot in anger. All it had to do was show it's "teeth," and the bad guys gave up, ran away, or suddenly remembered a prior engagement. :D


This is the pistol in question.

A bit of advice from the grave

"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity."
-Sigmund Freud

Second Amendment Hypocrites

Second Amendment Hypocrites: Senators Schumer and Feinstein

Jim Kouri, CPP
(Jim Kouri, CPP is fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and served in law enforcement for over 25 years. He writes for many police magazines such as Police Times. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. His website is located at http://jimkouri.us )

By Jim Kouri, CPP
September 23, 2005

A recent poll conducted by the National Association of Chiefs of Police indicated that almost 64 percent of police commanders and sheriffs favor a law allowing private citizens to carry concealed firearms for protection. Almost 73 percent said that citizens should not be restricted from purchasing more than one weapon, and 96 percent say they believe criminals obtain firearms from illegal sources.

Unfortunately most states -- especially those called Blue States due to their Liberal-leanings -- continue to prohibit private citizens from carrying concealed handguns.

At the same time, there are outspoken opponents of gun ownership, such as Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA), who are carrying concealed weapons, according to WABC Radio's Mark Levin. Levin, a recognized constitutional expert, heads the Landmark Legal Foundation. The LLF's goal is to protect American's from unreasonable and illegal government intrusions and violations of the US Constitution, including the Second Amendment.

The mainstream news media have been aware that several antigun proponents are carrying concealed firearms but have failed to expose this hypocrisy. This writer's efforts to discover how many other anti-gunners are also packing heat -- a right they wish to deny other citizens -- met with limited results.

Not only does Schumer carry a handgun, the New York City Police Department also provides armed escorts for the good senator. In fact, the Government Accounting Office -- the investigative arm of the US Congress -- slammed Schumer's use of police resources for personal protection. It's clear that Schumer believes he's special. He wishes to ban private citizens' ownership of firearms, while he enjoys layers of protection.

"No wonder Chuckie Schumer shoots his mouth off so much -- he's able to protect himself," says a 25-year police veteran.

Also, a check of Pistol License records shows that Senator Schumer possesses an "unrestricted" pistol permit, a rarity in New York City. Licenses are distributed in different categories in the Big Apple: Target Permits allow only use of a firearm at a licensed firing range; Premises Permits allow weapons to be kept in a home or apartment; Restricted Permits allow the gunowner to carry their firearms concealed but only within the purview of their job (security, jewelers, armored car guards, etc.). So it's evident that Senator Schumer has two sets of rules -- one for Americans and one for himself.

And then we have Senator Diane Feinstein on the Left Coast who possesses something more rare than a conservative Republican in San Francisco -- an unrestricted concealed weapons permit. Apparently without shame, she participated in a citywide gun turn-in program that was intended to create some kind of statue from the donated guns that were to be melted down. One of her police body guards let it slip that she contributed a cheap model for the meltdown, while retaining her .357 magnum revolver for her own personal self-defense.

Hypocrisy is not limited to politicians when it comes to the Second Amendment. For Example, well-known Washington-based columnist, Carl Rowan, often wrote about the ills of firearms ownership. Until, that is, he shot and wounded a teenager who trespassed on his property. The white teenaged boy claimed he wanted to try Rowan's swimming pool. Rowan, an African-American, retaliated with deadly force using a firearm. That's when the news came out that Carl Rowan, gun-control advocate, actually possessed a license to own firearms.

Another example is the loudmouth entertainer, Rosie O'Donnell, who once ran roughshod over conservative actor Tom Selleck on national television because of his stance supporting the Second Amendment. Although Ms. O'Donnell doesn't carry a gun, she has three armed bodyguards who protect her, her wife and her children, something the vast majority of hardworking Americans could never afford. Isn't it comforting to know these Liberals are looking out for us?

Some blogs, man

What is about these adult blogs that re-direct to someplace else? I mean, there's this one blog that seems to always show up on the "ten most recently published blogs." What is it with that? And the re-direct happens so fast, you don't know what hit you.

I did manage to stop the page before it re-directed me. But there was no "Flag" button to notify eBlogger about this blog site.

And I don't really see any other way to tell anyone. Personally, I think it sucks. But I don't think there's anything I can do about it.

Seems Scotland is more Violent than the USA!

It seems that in spite of the guns, the USA is a safer place to be than...Scotland??


Scotland tops list of world's most violent countries
By Katrina Tweedie (of Chicken Run fame)

A UNITED Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America. England and Wales recorded the second highest number of violent assaults while Northern Ireland recorded the fewest.

The study, based on telephone interviews with victims of crime in 21 countries, found that more than 2,000 Scots were attacked every week, almost ten times the official police figures. They include non-sexual crimes of violence and serious assaults.

Violent crime has doubled in Scotland over the past 20 years and levels, per head of population, are now comparable with cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Tbilisi.

The attacks have been fuelled by a "booze and blades" culture in the west of Scotland which has claimed more than 160 lives over the past five years. Since January there have been 13 murders, 145 attempted murders and 1,100 serious assaults involving knives in the west of Scotland. The problem is made worse by sectarian violence, with hospitals reporting higher admissions following Old Firm matches.

David Ritchie, an accident and emergency consultant at Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary, said that the figures were a national disgrace. "I am embarrassed as a Scot that we are seeing this level of violence. Politicians must do something about this problem. This is a serious public health issue. Violence is a cancer in this part of the world," he said.

Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, head of the Strathclyde Police's violence reduction unit, said the problem was chronic and restricting access to drink and limiting the sale of knives would at least reduce the problem.

The study, by the UN's crime research institute, found that 3 per cent of Scots had been victims of assault compared with 1.2 per cent in America and just 0.1 per cent in Japan, 0.2 per cent in Italy and 0.8 per cent in Austria. In England and Wales the figure was 2.8 per cent.

Scotland was eighth for total crime, 13th for property crime, 12th for robbery and 14th for sexual assault. New Zealand had the most property crimes and sexual assaults, while Poland had the most robberies.

Chief Constable Peter Wilson, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, questioned the figures. "It must be near impossible to compare assault figures from one country to the next based on phone calls," he said.

"We have been doing extensive research into violent crime in Scotland for some years now and this has shown that in the vast majority of cases, victims of violent crime are known to each other. We do accept, however, that, despite your chances of being a victim of assault being low in Scotland, a problem does exist."

New Orleans gun confiscations STOPPED!!

NRA-ILA Grassroots Alert Vol. 12, No. 38 9/23/05

MAJOR VICTORY FOR FIREARMS OWNERS
AND FREEDOM IN LOUISIANA

On Thursday, NRA filed a motion in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana seeking a temporary restraining order to block authorities from confiscating law-abiding citizens' firearms in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Today, we are happy to report, the Court sided with NRA and issued a restraining order to bar further gun confiscations from peaceable, law-abiding victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Federal Judge Jay Zainey granted NRA's motion for an indefinite temporary restraining order and ordered those in power to cease and desist gun seizures. The authorities were also ordered to return guns seized by them or their agents to anyone "...who lawfully possessed them, upon presentation of identification and execution of a receipt therefore."

Commenting on the ruling, NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said, "This is a significant victory for freedom and for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The court's ruling is instant relief for the victims who now have an effective means of defending themselves from the robbers and rapists that seek to further exploit the remnants of their shattered lives."

Joining LaPierre in hailing the U.S. District Court decision was NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox. "This is an important victory. But the battle is not over. The NRA will remedy state emergency statutes in all 50 states, if needed, to ensure that this injustice does not happen again."

The controversy erupted when The New York Times reported that the New Orleans superintendent of police directed that no civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to have guns and that "only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons." ABC News quoted New Orleans' deputy police chief, saying, "No one will be able to be armed. We are going to take all the weapons."

NRA also pledges that it will continue its work to ensure that every single firearm arbitrarily and unlawfully seized under this directive is returned to its rightful law-abiding owner.

Although this is great victory, we still need to hear from members who have been a victim of this gun confiscation initiative. If you have personally had a gun confiscated in Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina hit, please call (888) 414-6333. Be prepared to leave only your name and immediate contact information so we can get back to you. Once again, we are seeking contact information from actual victims of gun confiscation in Louisiana only.

For additional information, please visit www.NRAILA.org, or e-mail us at ila-contact@nrahq.org.

John Lott on Wikipedia

In case you haven't noticed, there's this thing called Wikipedia. This is a "free" encyclopedia that "EVERYONE" can edit. The problem with that, say you're President Bush. First, you not supposed to have input on articles about yourself. Your friends can say what they want, so can your enemies.

THIS is the problem with Wikipedia. This is also the problem with the article there on John Lott. His enemies (they prefer to be called critics, but I prefer to call a spade a spade.) have dominated that article for a very long time. Any time any supporter/friend of Dr. Lott's tries to set the record straight, his "critics" always revert the article back to how it was. With all the inaccuracies, half-truths, and bald faced lies. I have been trying lately, to put some "minor" edits in. A few have made it, most get taken out, or heavily edited by the "critics."

So, if you should go to Wikipedia, and just happen to look up the article on John Lott, keep in mind that mostly his critics hold sway in there, and not necessarily the truth.

Finally fired the Taurus 617B

Well, I took the 617 to the Range Friday, fired 50 rounds through it, and it did pretty well. As I expected, while I shot well using .38 Special +P ammo, I was barely able to hit the target when I loaded full power magnum loads. Still, the revolver was managable with the magnum ammo. I think I just need more practice to learn how to hit the target when using magnum ammo. If nothing else, I should be able to scare the crap out of anyone, should I choose to use magnum instead of the .38 Special +P that I currently use in it.

Question

Does anyone really even read this??? Ok, so someone does, but why do I get SPAM comments, you know. The typical, "Your blog is great! Come visit my site that has absolutely NOTHING to do with anything YOU are interested in." Unfortunately, this is forcing me to stop allowing comments.

Tuesday

You should never blog when you're under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Friends don't let other friends blog drunk!

MCRGO, heed thine own words!!

MCRGO, heed thine own words!!

In the latest bimonthly issue of "On Target," on page 26, Mr. Dale Shantz ended his column, "President's Parting Shot" with a paragraph that contained the following sentences:

....Spread the word. Talk to friends. Ask tough questions of local politicians.....

Why is it, MCRGO expects you and I to ask tough questions of politicians, yet the leadership of MCRGO themselves balk at answering tough questions from the membership?? What good will it do us to ask tough questions of the politicians when MCRGO won't answer them?

I got some questions for you.

Why have 5 members of the Board of Directors RESIGNED???

Why is MCRGO trying to eject a 6th member of the Board of Directors???

Why is it that the Board of Directors are not allowed to do their jobs correctly?

Why did MCRGO cancel the open directors meeting? (And don't give us that cock and bull story about threats to members of the BoD. We KNOW that there were no threats against the BoD, unless you perceive as a threat, the questions that would have been asked of the Board.)

Why does MCRGO let the prejudices of ONE board member govern who will or will not be appointed to County Chapter Chair, or any other appointed position within MCRGO?

I suppose that my criticism of MCRGO will be seen as "evil" by certain members of MCRGO leadership. My only criticism is that the leadership hides from the members behind lies and innuendo. I want answers. And I know that other members want answers to questions that we have.

I want to see a strong, vibrant MCRGO. So far all I see is a shadow.

You should also check out Concealed Pistols Training Forum.
And don't forget to look at Concerned Activists for Reform and Ethics (CARE).

Current Mood: Amused
Current Music: None
Current Gun: Taurus PT92AFS