California Governor Gavin Newsom shares his reaction to two mass shootings over the weekend in Texas and Ohio during a press conference, Monday, August 5, 2019, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. On his left is Mark Ghilarducci, the director of Cal OES and on his right is Xavier Becerra, Attorney General of California. Image via Sacramento Bee, SacBee.com
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday toughened California’s already strict gun control laws, signing fifteen bills that broadly expand the state’s “red flag” law and limit the purchase of semiautomatic rifles by individuals to one per month.
Newsom, who was elected last year on a campaign that promised strict limits on firearms, signed the bills passed in response to recent mass shootings. Using the tired language of “epidemic” gun violence Newsom would see California reclaim its top spot as the most restrictive state in the nation to own a firearm and give only lip service to respecting the 2nd Amendment.
“This continues California’s leadership in terms of gun safety,” Newsom said while signing the bill.
Absolutely sir, because your other measures have proven so effective in stopping the violence in your cities.
Senate Bill 61, prohibits Californians from buying more than one semiautomatic rifle per month. It also bans the sale of semiautomatic centerfire rifles to people younger than 21, removing a provision of the law that allowed younger people to buy such guns if they have a hunting license. I can just hear all the violent individuals of the west coast giving up and turning their hearts to peace.
“Our efforts to keep high-capacity weapons out of the hands of teenagers, continuing to close loopholes in law, and working with the DOJ and governor’s office this past year on this slate of bills is important and appropriate work that will continue to make our communities safer,” Anthony Portantino, the bill’s author, said Friday.
Was there a recent epidemic of licensed hunters losing their minds we needed to be concerned about? No? Just domestic terrorists who will pay this law just as much heed as all the others they ignore? Right, just checking.
Limiting Personal Sales
Another Portantino measure signed by Newsom reduces the number of firearms an unlicensed individual (Non-FFL) is able to sell each year and the frequency with which they are able to sell.
So more government intervention in your property rights, that will certainly curb those gang killings. Don’t they already ignore a background check law too?
“It is my hope that these bills can prevent a future horrendous violent situation,” Portantino said.
Yeah… hope is all you have there, bud. I hate to have to remind you that the people who you are trying to prevent doing violence on the general population are undeterred by your efforts. They don’t think like you do. And the hypothetical ‘if it can save just one life’ is a terrible justification for policy decisions. It’s an emotional plea, not a reasoned plan.
Reasoned Opposition Fell on Deaf Ears
Republican legislators opposed the one-gun-a-month bill and criticized the state for failing to remove guns from the hands of thousands of felons and people judged by the court to be severely mentally ill as it is already empowered to do. The state will not utilize its already empowered resources to pursuit felon in possession charges.
“Instead we continue to do more and more legislation that interferes with the law-abiding citizen’s right to own and possess firearms, which is their constitutional right to do,” said Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City).
The reasoning for the lack of prosecution is sound, they don’t consider these people to be an above average threat. Without evidence that a violent crime is imminent a felon possessing a gun is about as much a concern as anyone else. If that felon has a history of violent crimes, especially recent, that’s a different matter and there is far more cause to be worried.
However, a poll found that 68% of Californians say laws covering the sale of guns should be stricter. The poll, released Oct. 2 by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, found that 38% of state residents said they are very concerned about the threat of a mass shooting in their area, up from 28% who had the same fear in a PPIC poll two years ago.
Unfortunately, what this poll likely illustrates is mass ignorance of the topic.
Yes! It’s a regular topic here, but we also point out that violence against your person is a low probability high impact event.
But it gets treated in the media like a high probability high impact, because it’s scary. The subtle undertone, deliberately in many cases, is that without legislative action this will happen again. And the inference drawn then is the belief it will happen to you, this is encouraged by way these events are reported on. This inference draws support for any measure that states it can prevent the bad thing from happening.
It uses emotive support in place of reason. Per usual… Good luck my California friends.
Lots of people keep a collection of seeds in their Doomsday/SHTF supplies – just in case they need to create a survival garden. But what about the people who don’t have much (if any) yard space? Did you know that you can grow many kinds of fresh vegetables indoors?
The big requirement for a window garden is a bright south-facing window – or three. Obviously in a collapse situation like the next Great Depression, you may not have electricity to run “grow lights”. But you don’t need them if the orientation of your home is right. I am lucky to have a large south-facing patio slider. Since I don’t use the slider much to go in and out, I’ve got most of two large ceiling-to-floor windows to work with.
An indoor window garden won’t produce in the abundance of an outdoor garden, but your “crop” is protected from the ravages of insects and wildlife (or scavenging humans), and the growing season is longer due to the more steady indoor temperatures.
Your window garden likewise won’t produce enough to support a family of five, but it will give you some fresh greens to supplement and brighten up a stored food supply, and will also help stave off nutritional deficiencies that come with a limited diet.
A window garden doesn’t require a big financial investment, and there is no backbreaking labor involved. Seeds can be saved or are relatively cheap, as is indoor potting soil (especially if purchased end-of-season). Dwarf and container varieties of many vegetables do exist if you search for them. The containers can be “free” if you use repurposed plastic containers or cardboard boxes as I have. Additionally, I have used toilet paper rolls and takeout containers with clear lids as seed starters for zero additional expense.
Winter seed “craft” projectSprouting cherry tomatoes in “free” containers.
My biggest financial outlay was for a set of wire shelving once my collection of plants got too large. I even repurposed a large orange juice jug into a watering can. It got to be a personal challenge for me to see how little I could spend, and for awhile I was calling myself “The CheapAss Gardener”.
Here is a short run-down of what I’ve had success with indoors over the past couple years.
Cherry tomatoes
I have had great success with the heirloom variety “Tiny Tim”. The first consideration is that since it’s an heirloom, the seeds will breed true. The plants are relatively compact and will bear several times, especially if you cut them back and fertilize when they start getting ugly and leggy. I have a Tiny Tim growing in an old Halloween bucket that has remained alive in my window over the last winter and is continuing to bear even into the end of its second season. The plant is now about 20 months old and still going. I never knew that was even possible.
The year-old Tiny Tim still producing blossoms in March of its second season.Literal clusters of indoor cherry tomatoes
In addition to eating them fresh, you can halve and dehydrate cherry tomatoes too, so their value as stored food is additive to their value as fresh food.
Cabbage
Believe it or not, I have been able to grow small heads of cabbage in a cardboard box in my window. Cabbage is another vegetable that can be eaten fresh, but also dehydrated for storage. I used seeds of any old “garden variety” (pun intended) for my experiment and it was fine, but dwarf varieties do exist, and I’m going to look into those further.
Cabbage grown in a cardboard box in my window.
Snap peas
I originally bought two pre-started plants of Sugar Ann Snap peas on a whim at the garden center. They worked well indoors because the vines are short and bushy and don’t go all over the place. They were such a success that I bought seeds for the following year. These little pea vines happily climbed up a wire grid that I clipped to the shelving rack I was using. They bore cute little tender pods that I added to my salads and stir fry. Snap peas can also be dehydrated if your plants are producing too much for you to eat at once.
Happy window snap peas.
Lettuce
I tried several varieties of Lettuce, including: Black Seeded Simpson, Butter crunch, Romaine, and Salad Bowl. Nothing formed actual heads, but the tender leaves are tasty as is, and I enjoyed many fresh-as-you-can-get salads last season.
Fresh greens after a dreary winter – in a shoebox.
Spinach
Spinach is another leafy-type vegetable that I had modest success with in the window. I didn’t get a huge yield, but I got enough tender leaves to add to soups and a few salads, and some to freeze in ice cube trays for later use.
Herbs
Many fresh herbs are quite happy in a bright window too. Although you can’t make a meal of them alone, they can provide trace nutrients and give some flavor variety to the “same-old same-old” grains, dried beans, etc. that are in your stored supply. Plus you can make hot tea out of them! Herbs that have done well in my window include: Thyme (regular and lemon), Oregano, Basil, Mint, and Rosemary.
Failures
I tried a few veggies that didn’t go well, too. Green onions just were not enthusiastic for me, and despite three tries I couldn’t get carrots to give me more than a handful of two-inch orange dwarfs.
A few stunted carrots are better than none.
Still, if we are talking about an economic collapse and survival food, then a handful of fresh but stunted beta-carotene is better than none at all. And so are a few green onion tops even if they don’t bulb out. Toss it all in the soup pot with a few other “failures” and everybody still gets some nutrients. I also hear (but have not tried myself) that you can make pesto with the “waste” green carrot tops. Waste not Want not. Fresh greens when you’ve been eating out of cans? Why not?
Next year I’m looking at trying a dwarf broccoli and maybe some peppers just to see how it goes. I’ve also read that you can grow potatoes in a large pot or garbage bag indoors. That sounds like a new experiment waiting to happen at my house.
My early season window garden – complete with various cardboard boxes, holiday buckets found on sale for a few cents apiece, take out salad bowls wrapped in duct tape, and toilet paper rolls.
Even in good economic times a window garden is a fun and colorful way to expand your fresh food diet. It is very satisfying to be able to pick your dinner salad right out of the window. Even if you don’t have a yard, utilizing a bright window to grow vegetables can not only make you feel like a real gardener, it can shore up your nutritional intake during hard times.
There was a time in the United States when owning a gun wasn’t considered an indicator of what sort of person you were. Owning a gun didn’t mean anything more than owning a wrench did. They’re both tools. And they were regarded as such.
Unfortunately, legal gun ownership and use carries much more social and political baggage than it used to. People have formed prejudices against legal gun use that can make guns an uncomfortable topic for gun owners.
Some of these prejudices are manufactured to push a political agenda. Some have occurred more organically. However, they’re all problematic for the same reason: they’re wrong.
And, these prejudices are especially damaging because they not only stigmatize legal gun owners, they scare new gun owners away from purchasing firearms—even when they may have a completely legitimate reason for getting a gun, like personal defense.
Unfortunately, the most common prejudices are repeated often on social media, and are even “verified” by certain news outlets.
These are the common prejudices that get favorable treatment in a lot of circles.
All Gun Owners are Extreme Conservatives
First, yes, it’s true that many conservatives own guns. But there are also liberals who own guns. There’s even a Liberal Gun
Unfortunately, the politics of gun rights and the Second Amendment have been painted as a partisan issue. Maybe it’s a strategic move to fracture support for the Second Amendment and reduce coordinated resistance to gun control regulation.
Either way, the fact remains that nobody can discern who you voted for, or even which party you might affiliate with, just based on whether or not you own a gun.
Additionally, owning a gun doesn’t indicate any malice or hatred for the government. Opposing regulation that you don’t agree with isn’t resistance or belligerence. People should have input in the formation of new laws and regulations that affect them. Whether or not you support new regulations isn’t an indicator of the desire to start a rebellion or insurgency.
Possessing a Gun Indicates Violent Behavior
This opinion gets touted a lot by biased news media. People claim that the only reason to carry a gun is if you’re looking for a fight. Or maybe you’ve had someone ask you why you have a gun ready for home defense as if you’d be crazy to have a gun in your house.
The idea that the only reason you’d have a gun is because you’re actively looking to engage in violence is a fallacy. The mere possession of a tool does is not an adequate indicator of intent.
Guns are tools. And, just like other tools, there are multiple uses and various needs, for guns. Simply having a gun does not indicate which of those uses you intend to use the gun for.
Furthermore, the total number of firearm homicides in the U.S. each year is far less than one tenth of one percent of the total population. Even the total number of violent crimes reported in 2017 was only 5.3 million, which would be just under two percent of the population. So the actual data reveals that owning a gun is not a good predictor of violent behavior.
Anyone who believes that mere possession of a gun proves a certain intent has made a predetermined decision, without enough information to accurately reach that conclusion. It’s textbook prejudice.
Gun Owners Are More Likely to Be Racist than Those Who Do Not Own Guns
This one comes and goes in terms of popularity. In 2013, the Huffington Post published an article which cited a study that “showed” this. However, the study used something called “symbolic racism” to evaluate people’s biases, and more recent articles mostly cite anecdotal evidence.
So this seems like another predetermined judgement based on inadequate information.
Is it true that racists own guns? Sure. But people who aren’t racists also own guns. Even though the numbers are tough to work out on this one, the most likely scenario is that the number of upstanding gun owners far outnumbers the racist gun owners.
On the other hand, something up to half of households in the United States own guns. Which means that there’s a very good chance that there are more racists who don’t own guns than racists who do!
Just addressing this issue requires a lot of assumption and inference, because it’s so hard to get any good information. That means there’s not enough information to make a dependable judgement. So, this assumption about gun owners is certainly painting with a very broad brush, and almost certainly can’t be accurate.
Let the Prejudices Lie
Although these prejudices can make things uncomfortable, especially in conversations about guns rights and gun ownership, they’re most deeply held by people who occupy the extremes of the political spectrum.
Chances are that most people don’t buy these ideas wholesale. We gun owners from any walk of life can work against these prejudices by clearly articulating why we own guns and how to make gun ownership safe and useful for everyone.
We have the pride to fight these prejudices.
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—Jay Chambers is a Texas business owner, archer, shooter and survivalist. He believes in free speech, resiliency and self-sufficiency in an increasingly unpredictable world.
I saw this over at the Washington Times… Let me tell you… I’m shook.
The federal government collected fewer than 1,000 bump stocks during the run-up to a new ban in March, despite estimates that hundreds of thousands of the devices that mimic machine gun fire are in circulation, according to federal data provided to The Washington Times by the Justice Department.
As the nation marked the second anniversary Oct. 1 of the Las Vegas massacre, which prodded the Trump administration to ban bump stocks, the numbers offer a cautionary tale on the scope and resources needed to enforce any sort of gun buyback program.
You know everytime we tell you a law or rule has no enforcement mechanism and cannot function they way a gun controller says it will, we aren’t kidding. This isn’t just an exercise in, “BuT Ma SecOnD AmmEndermEnt!?!” and blind opposition of any and all rules on firearms. We, the folks of the industry who do this everyday, actually try and craft effective ways to be sure we are mitigating these risks.
But no one takes us seriously when we way so, because we’re just the “gun lobby” and couldn’t possibly want to reduce and protect folks from violence? Could we? Maybe when we stated there was no enforceable way to do this and there would be massive non-compliance we were speaking from a place with a little more evidence backing than simple bluster.
Between the issuance of the final rule banning the devices in December 2018 and April 4, 2019, shortly after the prohibition took effect in late March, 582 bump stocks were “abandoned” to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to Justice Department records, and 98 bump stocks were kept as evidence.
The Times obtained the records through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The administration cited estimates that 280,000 to 520,000 bump-stock-type devices were in circulation when it published the final rule in December.
Well… that’s rough. 680:280,000 is .24% and that is a best estimate from those numbers. 99.7% non-compliance or unknown compliance.
The Justice Department has resisted releasing the number of bump stocks people have turned in to the federal government, saying it paints an incomplete picture of compliance with the ban.
People could destroy the devices themselves or turn them in to other law enforcement agencies, ATF spokeswoman April Langwell said.
I’m sure all those hundreds of thousands of folks got right on that compulsory destruction of their own property. People are thrilled to do that. It wasn’t like this was a stupid reactionary rule change in response to a single horrific criminal event that was destined to fail from its inception.
The Washington State Patrol reported in late March that about 1,000 bump stocks were turned in as part of a local buyback program before funds were exhausted.
“…before funds were exhausted” and yet the device is supposedly so dangerous it must be mandatorily removed from society. Yet the government cannot foot the money to buy them at full MSRP back in, at the very least, a show of fair compensation for the property. That’s a rule somewhere isn’t it?
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. – Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
I would and will consider mandatory destruction for public safety ‘taken for public use’.
The ban could be seen as something of a smaller-scale “trial run” for what the federal government would have to do under a mandatory ban and buyback of certain military-style, semi-automatic firearms along the lines of what Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke is advocating, said Robert Spitzer, a professor at SUNY Cortland.
“I think it does have some implications for that,” said Mr. Spitzer, who has written extensively on the politics of gun control. “On its face, it’s not clear how any kind of mandatory program would work.”
Mr. Gottlieb agreed.
“It telegraphs, quite frankly, that if a Beto O’Rourke-type confiscation scheme ever got passed, that at best they’d have a fractional percent of people actually turning them in,” he said.
No kidding. The problems with prohibition are well known, yet often ignored, and I to this day cannot fathom why.
Dark Angel Medical has been preaching the gospel of blowout and trauma medicine far and wide. But the masses hated them because they spoke the truth…
Or something like that. Note that the comments on the video are off. That’s how much internet wrath came upon them that it just wasn’t worth dealing with. But for those who don’t want to listen to the vid here is the wound packing short version.
A TAMPON IS NOT ENOUGH GAUZE. There’s a reason that combat gauze, laced with clotting agent to aid in stopping bleeding, is foot after foot after foot. The tampon is nothing by comparison. Nothing. They get saturated and then bled through.
This is along the same vein as claiming the M1 Garand is a viable modern combat rifle because a 30.06 is still a powerful round. It’s obfuscating the whole complexity of a situation to one technically true point to “prove” the theory true.
In the case of the Garand, its that the 30.06 is still plenty lethal and that it was used during WWII and Korea to good effect.
In the case of tampons for wound packing its that tampons “absorb blood” and can be put in a hole to do so clearly that’s enough. It takes zero account of actually destroyed tissue mass or volume of blood being lost. It’s literally “small bullet hole can be plugged with small absorbent tissue. The same logic would allow you to use Kleenex. It doesn’t work.
“Better Than Nothing…”
Ok rando who would rather buy women’s hygiene products in order to literally NOT DIE instead of proper tourniquets and gauze. High point is just as good as Glock or Sig too.
If your justification for not buying equipment for an emergency is that in an emergency you can make do with a “better than nothing” terrible worst case piece of desperation, your plan sucks.
In this Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019 file photo, police officers walk behind a Walmart at the scene of a mass shooting at a shopping complex, in El Paso, Texas. (Source: John Locher)
Via KPLC
Patrick Crusius of Dallas confessed to the Aug. 3 mass shooting and stated that he targeted Mexicans, according to police. The attack killed twenty two people and left some two-dozen with injuries. Two of them remain in the hospital.
In spite of this the first hearing, which lasted only three minutes, had the 21 year old enter a not guilty plea. Crusius walked into the courtroom wearing a dark suit, white shirt and glasses. He was sworn in, waived the reading of his indictment and pleaded not guilty.
A delegation from the Mexican Consulate attended the hearing as eight Mexican citizens were killed in the attack and most of the victims had Hispanic last names. Among the dead was a German citizen who lived in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
Local prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.
Federal authorities are weighing capital murder and hate crime charges. The Department of Justice has called the shooting an act of domestic terrorism, an accurate description based on the attributed comments of the shooter. Crusius fled the scene of the shooting in his car but turned himself in less than an hour later, according to police. His arrest warrant says he declared: “I’m the shooter.”
The defense is saying… keep an open mind.
“There are two sides to this story,” said Mark Stevens of San Antonio, lead defense attorney. “… We’ll ask everybody, media and everybody else, to keep an open mind until you hear both sides of the story, what comes out in the courtroom.”
Okay, Mark… I’m certain we can do that. Got any evidence in your pocket that all the victims, or even most, were cartel soldiers? Any evidence that these 22 people were a clear and present danger to Crusius’ life? Evidence that he isn’t a racist lunatic with delusions of grandeur about ‘saving’ a mythical national heritage?
No, they won’t bring any. They don’t. But they must play the game in the best interest of their client to try and keep him from the hangman’s noose. They are going for the death penalty.
Thoughts…
People ask the reasons I carry a gun. I carry a gun because there are certain people broken beyond repair and they do not think like you. They don’t think like me. They rationalize in a way we cannot fathom and then they strike out violently, with great cowardice, and attack easy targets. I carry a gun because in the moment someone decides I am a target, I aim to stop them. No one gets to dictate the terms of my life and death to me in a vacuum. I get a say. And it will be a loud statement.
12 Month CPL report if active licenses in Michigan
As anticipated, September CPL numbers saw strong increases after the decrease in August. As of October 1, 2019, there are 663502 total active CPL holders in Michigan, a new all-time high! The full report can be read HERE.
There are 7,717,047 adults, (1,575,233 of whom are seniors) in Michigan. Actively licensed carriers are 8.59% of the population. About 1:12 people may, legally and licensed, carry their pistol concealed in public spaces.
Michigan has a fairly good saturation with the national number being somewhere around 18 million licensed individuals. Michigan’s percentage of licensed carriers is higher than the national average, however states like New York and California drastically shift the average due to the high populations and difficult permitting process.
This most recent uptick in Michigan follows a national trend of more people actively arming and licensing themselves to protect themselves and their families. While studies have indicated the number of ‘households’ with firearms has decreased the active and engagement of those remaining households has gone up. This is even before the climate of mistrust for media and politico types generated a climate where people may choose to conceal the fact they have a firearm from survey takers and information gatherers.
Do we remember when a newspaper took it upon themselves to publish the name and address of every registered gun owner in two New York counties? For “public safety” allegedly. Journal News took it upon themselves to place thousands at risk of burglary, assault, vandalism, and any number of other targeted crimes because they owned firearms in compliance with the law, and that was public record.
Luckily for Michigan residents that data is protected by law, recodified after Journal News published the egregious privacy breach. There is more than enough personal information floating around without journalists painting a target on a group they are actively blaming for violence… because what could go wrong there?
In July 2018 a Maine State Police trooper pulled Richard Tonini over for a traffic infraction, he found 5 1/2 ounces of marijuana, $5,000 cash and two handguns in Tonini’s car.
Tonini faced two charges — unlawfully furnishing scheduled drugs and possession of firearms prohibited for certain persons. A Hancock County jury earlier this year found Tonini not guilty of the drug furnishing charge but guilty of the firearms possession charge.
Now Tonini is challenging the law behind that firearm possession charge, calling it “unconstitutionally vague” because it effectively prohibited someone in possession of marijuana — a certified medical marijuana patient who can legally possess up to 8 pounds of the substance — from possessing a firearm.
This has been the crux of several legal debates across the country as medical and recreational marijuana use becomes the standard. The ATF, FBI, and every other law enforcement agency are still bound by Federal law to give the answer ‘prohibited person’ when asked about use of marijuana and firearms.
Tonini’s attorney, Max Coolidge of Ellsworth, has appealed the conviction — for which Tonini had to pay a $350 fine — to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. In a 29-page brief filed in late September, Coolidge wrote that the law Tonini was found guilty of violating is a “vague criminal statute” that “violates due process because it fails to give citizens effective notice of prohibited conduct.”
The law in question prohibits anyone from possessing a firearm who “is an unlawful user of or is addicted to any controlled substance and as a result is prohibited from possession of a firearm” under federal law. It’s that question on the Form 4473, you answer yes, you’re prohibited. You answer ‘no’ and lie… felony.
We’re watching this and several cases moving through various courts until one finally sticks and we get a change in the classification.
Given the not guilty finding on the drug furnishing charge and Maine’s laws allowing use and possession of marijuana, Tonini’s “underlying conduct — the medicinal or recreational use of marijuana — is not objectionable to the state and does not rise to the level of a public safety concern that would justify a total ban on firearms for the affected class of persons,” MaxCoolidge, Attorney for Mr. Tonini
[Ed: I wrote the following reply 9/18/19 to an article by Liza Gold, MD, “Gun Violence and Mental Illness: It’s Time to Change the Status Quo” (8/29/19). (BTW, Dr. Gold told me she’d heard of us.) Psychiatric News editor, Cathy Brown, referred my response to their executive editor, Jeffrey Borenstein, MD, who has declined DRGO’s input in the past and did again, without comment. However, it’s always worth responding. Occasionally one gets published, which is a win.If not, publish the exchange elsewhere so the biases are recognized.]
To the Editor, Psychiatric News
I read with interest Dr. Gold’s August 28 Psychiatric News article “Gun Violence and Mental Illness: It’s Time to Change the Status Quo”. Last week, I had the great pleasure of meeting her when she gave a talk to the Genesee Valley Psychiatric Association here in Rochester, New York, about her other area of expertise, sexual abuse.
Dr. Gold’s main points are extremely well taken about how shocking and unacceptable are any violent deaths, and even more, mass murder; and that people with psychiatric problems are inaccurately and unfairly stigmatized as responsible, when only about 4% of all violent crime perpetrators had identified, treatable mental illnesses. We have a major responsibility as psychiatrists, along with our patients, to combat that stigmatization every chance we get.
Other matters are not so cut and dried. In fact, on a per capita basis, whether measured against population, the number of gun owners, or the number of firearms legally possessed by civilians here, the United States is one of the safest countries in the world. The idea that the presence of firearms in a household dramatically raises the risk of harm to family members is a canard dating back to Dr. Arthur Kellerman three decades ago.1 In fact, any such “risk” to others can be eliminated by owners’ wise decisions about storage and access.
National Instant Background Checks (NICS) have long been required for all commercial gun sales, along with state checks in many places. Many states also require them at gun shows (as does mine, New York). Requiring background checks for all purchases at all gun shows would be doable, but requiring them for private, 1:1 individual transactions is impossible and would highly complicate personal life for those who complied. Dr. Garen Wintemute found that California’s long-time universal background check requirement has had no impact on “gun deaths”, 2 nor did repeal of those in Indiana and Tennessee3, or establishing them in Colorado, Delaware and Washington.4 Too many jurisdictions inconsistently report prohibiting conditions to the NICS, allowing too many purchases by otherwise ineligible buyers. At the same time, most NICS’ denials may be false positives, wrongly denying legal purchasers.5
There would be almost nothing gained by banning “military-style assault weapons”. Retrospective analyses by the Department of Justice of the 1994-2004 ban could not “clearly credit the ban with any of the nation’s recent drop in gun violence.”6 Less than 2% of shootings employ any rifle (not just this subset)—that’s less impact than mental illness. And “assault weapon” is a made-up misnomer—these are simply semi-automatic firearms with features that make them easier to use, not more dangerous. They have become the most popular rifles of all since their appearance in the 1950’s).
Critically, overwhelming non-compliance with any bans must be assumed: in New York, Connecticut and California ((MSRs); Vermont and New Jersey (“bump stocks”); no more than 15% (and mostly less than 5%) of estimated pre-ban supplies were turned in or registered.7 These only criminalize erstwhile legal, responsible gun owners while not touching criminals at all, who obtain their firearms via theft or straw purchases and from each other.
Finally, Extreme Risk Protective Orders are a hot topic, being used or considered in many states already, with some Congressional interest in promoting them. They may have utility in forestalling some suicides,8 although their value, beyond anecdotes, in preventing murder (mass or otherwise) is uncertain. It is known that police killed one man because of the ERPO they attempted to serve on a man surprised and angered him.9 As thus far constituted, ERPO’s have many serious, inherent deficits: they deny initial due process for the uninformed subject; any action permitted to reverse the ERPO comes at the convenience of the court and at the cost of the accused, who is considered guilty unless he proves his own innocence; and like domestic abuse allegations, ERPO’s are easily abused by angry acquaintances.
We may well learn from court challenges that ERPO’s constructed in these ways are illegal and unconstitutional. Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership wrote a position paper10 detailing what is necessary for fair, effective ERPOs, and is working with lawyers in the public interest toward promoting legislation that addresses these and other problems with them.
Overall, laws restricting legal ownership and bearing of firearms come up short. The very best recent nationwide study of trends in homicides and violent crime versus relative stringency of state gun laws shows no correlation between them.11
Plenty needs to and can be done to reduce the toll of violent deaths and injuries in the United States without barking up these wrong trees. What we can do and why would require another article, so I’ll limit this communication only to responding to these aspects of Dr. Gold’s excellent article.
Sincerely yours,
Robert B Young, MD
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine
Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association
Executive Editor, Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership
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— DRGO Editor Robert B. Young, MD is a psychiatrist practicing in Pittsford, NY, an associate clinical professor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
NEWINGTON, N.H., (October 9, 2019) – SIG SAUER Electro-Optics is pleased to introduce the all-new ROMEO1PRO Open Reflex Red Dot Sight. The ROMEO1PRO is capable of mounting to any pistol with a SIG SAUER PRO slide cut, and is crafted for durability, and for use in harsh environments.
“The ROMEO1PRO is the latest evolution of the ROMEO1 sights and brings a new level of durability and performance to the open-reflex red dot sight,” said Andy York, President, SIG SAUER, Electro-Optics. “The adoption of a red dot sight on pistols is becoming the standard in the commercial, law enforcement, and military markets, and the ROMEO1PRO is the ultimate solution for fast, responsive target acquisition and accuracy combined with the easy mounting option of the PRO footprint.”
The SIG SAUER Electro-Optics ROMEO1PRO is a miniature open reflex red dot sight, available with either a 3MOA or 6MOA red dot. It comes with 12 brightness settings for a full range of lighting conditions, and the TruHold™ Lockless Zeroing System designed to endure recoil and return to zero shot after shot. The ROMEO1PRO features a molded glass aspheric lens with high-performance coatings for superior light transmittance and zero distortion, a new upgraded point-source emitter for increased brightness in day or night conditions, MOTAC, a 20,000-hour battery life, and an IPX-7 waterproof rating. The ROMEO1PRO is housed in aircraft grade aluminum to ensure corrosion resistance, includes a ruggedized steel protective shroud in the box for extreme durability, and is available in black or FDE.
SIG SAUER pistols with a PRO slide cut (rev2) include the P320 XFIVE Legion, P320-M17, P320 XFULL, P320 XCARRY, P320 XCOMPACT, and P320 XVTAC.
The SIG SAUER Electro-Optics ROMEO1PRO is currently shipping, and available for purchase at retailers nationwide and on the SIG SAUER Webstore. Complete product specs and information for the ROMEO1PRO are available at sigsauer.com.
About SIG SAUER, Inc. SIG SAUER, Inc. is a leading provider and manufacturer of firearms, electro-optics, ammunition, airguns, suppressors, and training. For over 150 years SIG SAUER, Inc. has evolved, and thrived, by blending American ingenuity, German engineering, and Swiss precision. Today, SIG SAUER is synonymous with industry-leading quality and innovation which has made it the brand of choice amongst the U.S. Military, the global defense community, law enforcement, competitive shooters, hunters, and responsible citizens. Additionally, SIG SAUER is the premier provider of elite firearms instruction and tactical training at the SIG SAUER Academy. Headquartered in Newington, New Hampshire, SIG SAUER has almost 2,000 employees across eight locations. For more information about the company and product line visit: sigsauer.com.
Michael, Le Thumb Garand, has his latest review up and ready. He takes on the T36, a G36 rifle clone that here in the states was unicorn status like few others. At the same time far more famous for its sci-fi futuristic looks and inclusion in movies, games, and TV shows to that effect.
Tommy Built Tactical, has made a niche name for himself with his high quality durable turn of the century HK conversions. You want an XM8? Tommy Built. A solid UMP Clone/Conversion? Tommy Built. A Star Wars Themed badass jeep with a matching HK rifle? Yep, Tommy Built.
The Star Wars Nerd Epic Machinist Gun Maker made true headway in the space recently though when he launched the T36 receiver. Tommy broke the legendary gridlock that was German import/export law by making a G36 receiver domestically. Now full G36 clones could be built domestically from start to finish and not shucked from an SL8 for a ridiculous sum.
Introducing the TORCH™ Light Body with Integral M-LOK® Mount. Machined from aircraft grade billet aluminum with Mil Spec Type III Hardcoat Anodized finish, the TORCH is optimized for use with the ATPIAL/PEQ 15, NGAL, and other top-mounted aiming laser devices.
The TORCH bodies are optimally designed to work with other close ancillary equipment.
Featuring an integral uni-body M-LOK interface it is not only low profile, but provides the most robust M-LOK® weapon light mounting solution on the market today. Available immediately in both left and right hand variants, the TORCH 3V/CR123 is compatible with SureFire® M300 Scout bezels and tail caps. 6V/CR123 (2 Cell), 18650, and 18350 versions coming soon.
Left or right options available.
The TORCH design centers around the the core concepts of a solid M-LOK mount up, ergonomically sound and familiar light placement, non-interference with laser aiming solutions, and compatibility with Surefire and Modlight light bezels and tail controls. It takes the two, three, or even four piece light and mount solution for M-LOK and makes it one.
Less pieces, fewer available failure points, stronger total system.
The system was designed from a military client request when the services upgraded to an M-LOK mounting system. Their top mounted laser aiming systems were still fully useable but integrating a good visible light option involved to many pieces and resulted in an awkwardly placed light.
The solution, request a light body that fits seamlessly next to the module with as little wasted spaces as possible and mounts directly into the M-LOK for the strongest unit to handguard interface. M-LOK was the superior of the CRANE tested mount systems for strength of system but that can be compromised the more layers off the M-LOK you take the light. The TORCH brings it back to direct mount, greatly reducing the likelihood an impact can break the light free.
Available now if you want to piece them together, Surefire M300 compatible parts. Full light options coming soon is the rumor.
Fort Worth, TX (October 8, 2019) – XS® Sights is pleased to introduce RAM™ Night Sights – the brightest sight options for fast and accurate shooting in bright and low light.
The RAM (radioactive material) night sights have a traditional 3-dot tritium, notch and post sight picture. The rear sight is blacked out to increase contrast against the front sight which is available in bright orange or green. The front sight features XS’s proprietary Ember™ Glow Dot technology which absorbs ambient light and glows in low light. The front tritium lamp in the RAM sight charges the Ember Glow Dot, making the front sight glow brighter than the rear, keeping one’s focus down range.
“Our high-performance night sights are purpose driven tools fine-tuned for Law Enforcement use,” said Zack Kinsley, Marketing Manager for XS Sights. “Having our own tritium license has significantly strengthened our capabilities. We now test and use raw materials we didn’t have prior access to, resulting in broader and more advanced product offerings that ensure front sight visibility at all times.”
RAM Night Sights were designed to overcome three common issues with 3-dot tritium sights:
1. Confusing the front dot with one of the rear sight dots when under stress
The brightly colored Ember Glow Dot in the RAM front sight is a much brighter color which differentiates the front dot from the two rear dots.
2. The 2-dot tritium rear sight glowing brighter than the front sight drawing the eyes there instead of towards the downrange threat.
The Ember front sight is brighter than the rear tritium lamps.
3. Tight sight pictures
RAM Night Sights use a notch that is 15% wider than the front sight, allowing more visible light around the front sight. This makes it easier to see the front sight in changing light conditions and when shooting on the move, aiding in sight alignment and increasing accuracy.
Other key features include a rear sight overhang that reduces glare in bright light for greater sight definition. The anti-reflective rear tritium lenses also reduce glare in daylight while increasing contrast against the front sight. RAM sights also have a rear sight ledge to aid in one-handed slide manipulations.
As for color choice, the orange front sight contrasts best in bright light and the green glows best in low light; however, people see color differently and eyesight issues can affect which color performs best for each individual.
The steel RAM Night Sights are extremely durable and easy to install by hand or with a sight pusher tool. All tritium sights from XS are backed by a 10-year, No-Questions-Asked Warranty. Front blade width is 0.145” (3.68 mm) and the notch width is 0.170” (4.32 mm). While height varies by model, all models fit standard holster options.
Sig Sauer® P225, P226, P228, P229, P320, SP2009 & SP2340
Smith and Wesson® M&P® Full-size & compactM&P® Shield®
Springfield Armory® XD®, XDM®, & XDS®
FNH® FN 509®
Retail Price: $100 to $120 depending on the model
For more information on XS Sights, visit xssights.com.
About XS Sights
XS Sights is known for making the fastest sights in any light. For more than 20 years, the XS team has created some of the most innovative sights on the market today for pistols, rifles and shotguns. Whether used for personal defense or hunting, these sights are designed and built to be the absolute best for their specific purpose.
Langdon is an expert with DA/SA pistols, and felt the Springfield Armory XD-E was a great platform for customizing.
Introduced in 2017 with the slogan “The Hammer Re-Invented,” Springfield Armory’s XD-E was the first pistol in the XD series to not be a striker-fired model. The hammer mentioned in the slogan is part of its double-action/single-action (DA/SA) system, and inevitably, it came to the attention of the most famous shooter of such in our time: Ernest Langdon.
But first, for those unfamiliar with DA/SA system on the XD-E, this is a pistol with a hammer-fired system and an exposed hammer. The gun can be carried with the hammer down, with the first shot being a long double-action pull that both cocks and releases the hammer. For follow-up shots, the slide cycles the action and cocks the hammer, giving you a lighter single-action pull that simply releases the hammer to fire all follow-up rounds.
On the XD-E, the manual safety can be swept downward to decock/drop the hammer safely. The pistol can also be carried “cocked and locked” with the hammer cocked and the safety in the upward “on” safe position.
And Langdon is a true expert in using these DA/SA-type pistols. Before embarking on his current career as a pistolsmith, Langdon won nine national championships and two world champion titles in various forms of combat and action shooting, all with DA/SA pistols. He prefers for a pistol to have a relatively long and heavy first shot trigger pull, and an exposed hammer which can be held in place by the thumb when holstering, especially for “appendix carry.” Famous today for his action work and other customizing on DA/SA autos, Langdon has made the XD-E his latest project.
I’ve been a fan of Landgon’s work for a long time, so when I saw his new “Springfield Armory XD-E Tactical Edition” (offered in 9mm and .45), I wanted to learn more. I reached out to him and set up an interview to get some background on the new XD-E project, and why the pistol caught his eye. Following is my Q&A with him.
I recently had the pleasure of taking a Defensive Shotgun class.
I wasn’t originally so excited about it – I was a little apprehensive. But I had recently rebuilt a pawnshop shotgun into a home defense gun and I needed to learn how to run it for defensive purposes (as opposed to competition or hunting purposes). The class was presented by Tom Givens of Rangemaster fame so I knew I’d get a good education – it was my own performance I was worried about, since I have recently struggled with hand/wrist arthritis issues.
I need not have feared, because this turns out to have been one of the BEST classes I have ever taken!
Though Rangemaster classes are given all over the country, this particular one was an almost ten-hour drive from home – near Nashville, TN. The classroom building was back a bunch of country roads, so after my arrival at the hotel I drove the route ahead of time to be sure I knew where I was going. (No control-freakness on my part or anything.)
When I arrived the next morning I discovered that though there was a female assistant instructor, I was the only female out of fifteen students taking the class. I’ve gotten rather used to that in my shooting history, so that in itself didn’t bother me. But then the guy sitting next to me felt it necessary to inform me that his wife had left in tears when she took the class with him last time. (Oh yay – thanks sharing THAT, dude.)
Maybe he was just trying to rattle me for some reason, because I had NO such experience. MY experience was informative, skill-building, and even – dare I use the word – empowering.
Classroom
The first half of the class (before lunch) included safety essentials, history of the shotgun, history of shell and load development, suggestions for accessory set-up, gimmicks to avoid, etc. All of it was valuable information, most of which I had not ever heard before.
I liked that this class was focused on the context of home/property defense – from the end of your driveway, through your house, and out to your back fence. Those distances are the ones we needed to pattern for and select ammo and accessories for. I have never pretended to be “Tammy Tactical”, and just because the SWAT team has some gizmo or other doesn’t mean that “I” necessarily need that for my context – including stuff like weapons lights and slings. That was really good to know. It’s easy to get caught up in thinking you need “cool guy” accessories even when you aren’t a cool guy. All that effort is better spent in actual practice with your actual gun.
I found the classroom portion to be very educational. I received a good bit of background context for why the shotgun is a good choice for home defense. I got some solid advice for how to keep my butt cuff from creeping forward, and I’m now also going to be investing in Velcro panels for a side saddle. I even received backhand confirmation of my stock choice, as Tom’s guns are also outfitted with the Magpul SGA stock, AND are 12-inch length of pull to boot.
The lecture portion dispelled a good bit of BS about ammo types too – including the ever present myth about bird shot for defense.
Tom pointed out that most game birds are not killed by the shot, they are crippled in the air (merely rendered unable to fly) and then killed by the sudden stop on the ground … or by your dog … or when you wring their necks.
Birdshot dent in a target clip.
Birdshot merely dented this target clip, and it wouldn’t have penetrated a heavy leather jacket either. Bird shot WILL still penetrate drywall though so the reasons some people give for using it do not hold up under scrutiny.
In addition to all that, CHEAP birdshot will jam your gun. One of my classmates had that exact thing happen. It can be worth a few extra bucks to buy decent practice ammo.
Super cheap shells can jam your gun.
While on the subject of loads, Tom also reinforced the importance of patterning – because you are responsible for every single one of those 8 or 9 projectiles. You can’t just shrug off a flyer – because it could kill a bystander. He then provided a real world example of that happening – 8 pellets in the bad guy, but one off-track pellet sheared off the aorta of a good guy.
After the lunch break we proceeded to the private range where we were going to do our live fire.
Range Time
Once at the range we did a good bit of dry fire first to reinforce the muscle movement, before moving on to “Load one, shoot one”, “Load two, shoot two”, etc. Then we worked on replacing what we shot – “Shoot two, reload two”, etc such that you are always topping off the gun.
All reloads were done with the support hand, so that the gun was under control of the shooting hand at all times. This is a definite “fighting gun” difference from what I have seen in competition. Fortunately, I was already a support hand reloader so I didn’t have to relearn that part, but grabbing right-hand mounted shells from the butt cuff (rather than a vest pocket or competition rig) is a new set of motor skills that I need to work on. By the end of those drills my shoulders were telling me that I needed to do more upper body weight training.
It was a work-out, but it was never arduous. I complained a little in good fun, but I was fine. We were given adequate breaks for water in the 95 degree heat and to shake out our hands and arms. My still-recovering wrists and hands performed much better than anticipated.
We spent the largest amount of time on drills for loading from the butt cuff or side saddle – not because many shotgun fights require reloads, as Tom said – but so that we could pick up an unloaded gun and quickly make it ready to shoot if we needed to. That is something that I need to continue to work on with dummy rounds at home. Those are perishable skills.
Casino Drill
After we all had the loading and shooting drills under control, we were then challenged with something called the Casino Drill. This drill was performed individually, up in front of everyone, sooooo no pressure or anything. But that was the idea – adding pressure. If somebody is kicking down your front door, you ARE going to be under pressure. Defensive gun skills don’t do a durn bit of good if you can’t perform them when you are stressed.
There was also the added pressure of a par time of 30 seconds. The drill started with 4 shells in the gun. The idea was to put one round in target #1, two rounds in target #2, three rounds in target #3 and four rounds in target #4 – reloading as needed.
My memory is foggy, but I think the fastest guy was in the low 20’s with a semi-auto. I performed the drill in about 28 seconds (under par time) with my pump gun, and was very happy with that for a first effort. Reloads from a butt cuff are painfully slow. But I completed the drill, under pressure, in front of all those men and a notable instructor, with a gun I rebuilt myself, and under the allotted time. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I was elated!
Patterning
After we all got through the casino drill with birdshot (because it’s cheap for practice, not because it’s recommended as defensive ammo), we moved on to patterning our buckshot loads. As Tom pointed out, no two barrels – even off the same factory run – will pattern the same. Thus we needed to see how our own gun/ammo combo worked.
I brought Fiocchi low recoil double-aught buck because I was worried that the pump gun was going to beat me up. (I have previously been spoiled by the minimal recoil of my semi-auto Benellis). But it turns out that though the recoil was fine, at ten yards the pattern with that load started to open up a good bit out of my gun. So it would not be a good choice for actual defensive use – at least at any distance with this particular gun.
Five yards was a “head-ectomy”, but there was a good bit of pellet spread from my buckshot loads at ten yards.
Tom recommends Federal Flite Control 8 pellet double-aught, and the targets of the guys who were using that load showed why. At ten yards with three rounds some targets looked like a slug target, and with the rest you could still cover the pattern with the palm of your hand.
A couple guys offered me some of that load to try, so now I need to order some of my own.
The instructor-preferred load.
Rolling Thunder
I would be remiss if I failed to mention the “Rolling Thunder” drill. This was something we ran several times with birdshot and a final time with buckshot. We were divided into two teams for a bit of competition. We were to consecutively load and fire in the sequence of “load one, shoot one” – up to “load four, shoot four”. You couldn’t start shooting until the guy to your left had finished his last shot, and you had until that time rolled around again to reload your gun for the next string. It was supposed to sound like continuous gunfire until the end. Again, I’m a little fuzzy, but I “think” our team finished before the other team every time. If so, that means that this old gal with her rebuilt pump gun did NOT hold everyone else up. I have to take my small points of pride where I can find them, so there ya go. I was proud of myself.
Take-aways
One of the biggest take-aways I got from this class is that despite popular misconception, you still need to AIM a defensive shotgun. During live fire I was reminded at least once to “Keep that bead down, Doc”. Unlike bird or clay shooting, you want a small pattern and you want it to stay within the confines of your target – not rocket off into lawsuit-land. Remember that part about being accountable for every pellet? Proper aim keeps your hits ON target and OFF bystanders.
During one long course of fire I was starting to drift up and to the left.
Another big take-away is the importance of on-board ammo storage. Nobody sleeps in a competition belt and shell carriers. I need to make some modifications to my butt cuff and buy a Velcro sidesaddle – and then PRACTICE with them.
Thanks to this class I have newfound confidence in this pump gun and my ability to run it. I heartily recommend this defensive shotgun class to anyone who wants a solid grounding in shotgun as a home defense tool. Not only that – it was FUN, too.
Tom later noted online that ours was a “truly outstanding” class, and “ ‘that guy’ was conspicuously absent”.
Nobody ever wants to be “that guy”, and despite my initial trepidation I am pleased to report that I wasn’t him either.
Many thanks to Tom Givens, and his able assistant instructors Tiffany Johnson and Aqil Qadir. It was a great experience and I will definitely be back for another class!
