News from Idaho:

Something rather remarkable just happened in Idaho. The state legislature opted to—in essence—repeal the entire state regulatory code. The cause may have been dysfunction across legislative chambers, but the result is serendipitous. A new governor is presented with an unprecedented opportunity to repeal an outdated and burdensome regulatory code and replace it with a more streamlined and sensible set of rules. Other states should be paying close attention.

The situation came about due to the somewhat unconventional nature of Idaho’s regulatory process. Each year, the state’s entire existing body of regulations expires unless reauthorized for an additional year by the legislature. In most years, reauthorization happens smoothly, but not this year.

Instead, the legislature wrapped up an acrimonious session in April without passing a rule-reauthorization bill. As a result, come July 1, some 8,200 pages of regulations containing 736 chapters of state rules will expire. Any rules the governor opts to keep will have to be implemented as emergency regulations, and the legislature will consider them anew when it returns next January.

Governor Brad Little, sworn into office in January, already had a nascent red tape cutting effort underway, but the impending regulatory cliff creates some new dynamics. Previously, each rule the governor wanted cut would have had to be justified as a new rulemaking action; now, every regulation that agencies want to keep has to be justified. The burden of proof has switched.

The new scenario creates multiple touch points when rules could end up on the cutting room floor. First, when regulations expire on July 1, many will not be refiled. Second, the public will have the opportunity to comment on regulations that are resubmitted. In some cases, public hearings are likely to take place, presenting another opportunity to reshape, and cut, some regulations. Finally, when the legislature returns next year, it will need to pass a reauthorization bill for those regulations Governor Little’s administration wants kept. Even more red tape can be trimmed then.

Good idea.  Throw everything away and start over.  I’m sure the pit vipers sitting in the capital will find a way to foist unnecessary regulations on their constituency, as they always do.  But in this case at least there’s a chance of turning these back.

Now, if we could just convince the other 49 states to do the same thing.  And if libertarians and conservatives just cared enough to get involved in the process.

From a reader, Fox News:

James Jordan, 30, of West Yarmouth, Mass., was arrested early Saturday on a federal complaint charging him with murder and assault with intent to murder in connection with the “senseless and brutal attack” on the two unidentified hikers, Abingdon U.S. Attorney Thomas Cullen said.

Jordan was known to hike the Appalachian Trail under the moniker “Sovereign,” WCYB-TV reported. He was arrested in April for threatening hikers on the Appalachian Trail in Tennessee, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation, according to WJHL-TV.

The victims were hiking together when they were attacked, WSLS-TV reported. Deputies responded sometime after 3:30 a.m.

The deputies used GPS to find the man in Wythe County after he sent out an emergency notification on his cellphone, the station reported.

Two hikers helped the woman after she walked six miles injured and bleeding, according to the station.

He looks like a creep, and he isn’t sovereign over anything.  I would had been suspicious of him right off the bat.

When you’re in the bush, there are threats of the four legged kind and two legged kind.  Be prepared for both.  Carry guns and travel with a dog.  Make sure your gun isn’t inside a backpack or stowed away where you can’t get to it.

News from Kentucky:

Startling video released by the Warren County, Kentucky sheriff’s office gives us a front seat to a real-life home invasion.

This is not a drill, and the bullets are real.

It happened in Bowling Green at the Country Living Estates Mobile Home Park. The video shows four intruders busting through the front door and charging into the living room.

The apparent leader of the crew has a gun. He turns a corner and suddenly he is confronted by another man with a gun, the homeowner Austin Orwig.

There are gunshots.  You can see the flashes.

The home invasion crew turns around and runs away.

Police tell us Orwig was shot in the hand  He was flown to a hospital in Louisville for treatment.

Streaming the video was laborious for me and I don’t want to embed it here and slow down my web site hosting service.  You can watch it if you want, or not.  Four of what I’m sure are the brightest, most well-behaved boys in the world who wouldn’t do something like that, probably according to their mothers, did something like that.

Four … home … invaders.

What was that about not needing an AR-15 or standard capacity magazines for home defense?  Gosh.  It just seems like the narrative is a damn lie.

Recoil:

In addition, the top of the mount also incorporates the activation button for the light, providing natural and ergonomic access to the controls, especially for shooters who use a thumb-over grip on their rifle. Tap the switch to turn the light on or off, or hold it to activate momentary on mode. Double tapping the switch engages strobe mode. INFORCE says the light will output approximately 1,300 lumens.

That’s a lot of light.  I’m certain it would be blinding in the dark to an assailant, but the danger is that it’s so bright that it causes dysfunction even in the shooter due to light scattering from walls, ground, etc.  I’d want to see this in the dark myself before buying, although with electronic components there are no returns.  I do like the offset mount.

The INFORCE web site doesn’t show this product yet.  The alleged cost is in the neighborhood of $239, with a $100 switch.  I found the cost of the Surefire M622 (with switch) to be $429.  That’s up a bit from the last time I looked.

Guns Magazine:

My first impression upon decanting the rifle from the shipping carton was “it’s heavy.” It weighs 11.5 lbs. A suitable optic brings it to 14.5 to 15 lbs. The centerpiece — and the source of most of the weight — is the heavy barreled action mounted in an aluminum alloy chassis — free-floated, biologically inert and pretty much immune to the vagaries of nature.

[ … ]

Groups at 600 and 1,000 yards hovered around the 1 MOA mark for all three of us with three or four of each five rounds at — or below — 1/2 MOA in most cases. This is likely a more accurate predictor of the rifle’s baseline accuracy than the full five rounds and the likely interjection of human error.

Nevertheless, Stan’s subsequent load development with the same ELD bullet is closing in on 1/2 MOA across the board.

The weight isn’t trivial, but a review of the CMMG Endeavor in 6.5 Creedmoor has the author saying that “The 300 series is an absolute log at 11+ lbs.”  Accurized, heavy profile barrels are going to dominate long gun weight.

Given the weight of the rest of your kit, unless you have the strength of a pack mule and stamina of a sled dog, that gun is going to get heavy.  It would be enough to make anyone hesitate to carry it on a long hunt.

Then again, this is more like a tactical gun, useful for other things.  What’s really nice to see is the MSRP of $1,211.  Getting a highly dependable, accurate tactical bolt action gun has gotten to be a rich man’s game with costs running near $2,000 just to get in.  I’d like to see downward pressure on the market cost.  This is a good start.

News from New Hampshire:

Ruger CEO Christopher Killoy responded during the meeting that rolling out a line of these weapons would be a financial loser.

“While people think there is often a great market for ‘smart guns,’ or user-authorized technology, we are not seeing it,” he said.

The company’s decision to not pursue smart guns frustrated Colleen Scanlon, an activist investor with Catholic Health Initiatives, which is based in Colorado, where a school shooting on Tuesday killed one student and injured others.

“We find management’s decision dangerously short sighted. It ignores a significant business opportunity, as well as one of the most promising prospects for reducing gun violence,” Scanlon told shareholders.

Last year, Scanlon and other faith-based activist investors successfully persuaded Ruger shareholders to adopt a resolution requiring the company to produce a report investigating the viability of smart guns and how the company assesses risks related to gun violence.

[ … ]

Ruger did appear receptive, however, to another demand of activists: that the company meaningfully engage in conversations with faith-based shareholders, who have criticized Ruger’s refusal to meet.

Oh nice.  So now Ruger has agreed to waste time and resources meeting with the same sort of “faith-based” groups (read here, “Jesus was a Bohemian, pacifist, beatnik, flower child hippie, so we should be too”) that are pushing them to meet with these groups.  They’re all in it together.

Once again.  To all gun manufacturers, make sure a majority of your stock is owned by employees.  Ruger did not work behind the scenes to buy out these shares over the last year and leverage their power (e.g., splitting the stock and buying half of it?), and that may have been a mistake.

Via Ken’s place, American Rifleman has the top selling new and used semi-automatic rifles of 2018.

How weird am I when I’m not interested in a single rifle on the list, not even an M1 Garand?  If I had my choice given everything else being equal, I’d take an AR-10 over an M1 any day.  Many manufacturers are making better pistol caliber carbines with AR functionality than the Kel-Tel Sub-2000, and I don’t like the Bullpup design for any gun with it’s chamber closer to the ear.

The Ruger 10/22 is the only gun that makes sense to me.  I suppose if you’re into budget or rack ARs, one is a lot like the other, and perhaps there’s a place for a rack AR if you’re looking for backup, replacement parts, and so on.  Otherwise, you get what you pay for.  Feel free to post your thoughts.

This is why the Holy Writ requires two witnesses to convict.  And in case you had to be told (I hope you don’t), be careful how well you manage your home life.  I personally have a very good friend whose wife was unfaithful to him, demanded a divorce (that he didn’t want), and took half of everything he owned in court, along with alimony payments.  If red flag laws existed at the time his guns would be owned and operated by the police today.  And not one bit of the whole ugly affair was his fault.

AR-15: Lock on it.

Cop: Tries to cycle the charging handle three times before he concludes it is not loaded.

Good Lord.

News from Colorado:

The school does not have a school resource officer, but the school does have private security, Kluth said. School staff notified emergency dispatchers “almost immediately” after the first gunshots were fired, and deputies were on scene within two minutes and engaged the suspects, Spurlock said.

Sorry folks, but that’s not nearly fast enough as this incident goes to show.  A lot of people can get hurt in two minutes, and that’s a fast response time for most PDs.

This recapitulates a conversation I had with someone on Sunday, after I heard a pastor say of the police on campus, “They are here to protect you and keep you safe.”

That’s a lie.  The police know it, and the congregation should be told the truth.  This is especially true of small congregations who don’t have the financial resources to hire cops to sit or stand around.

The job of keeping families safe falls to the same people who provide for them, teach them and nurture them: heads of families and their spouses.

And note again that this was a gun free zone, a soft target, just like many church congregations are on Sunday.  It’ll keep happening until people learn to protect themselves and those for whom they have been given charge.