The Bureau of Land Management is planning a truly boneheaded move, angering some conservationists over the affects to herd populations and migration routes. From Field & Stream.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently released a draft plan outlining potential solar energy development in the West. The proposal is an update of the BLM’s 2012 Western Solar Plan. It adds five new states—Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming—to a list of 11 western states already earmarked…… [read more]
It’s good to see this one go down in the flames it should. Trump and the ATF should be ashamed. But I suspect both would defend it to this day and beyond.
Stephen Stamboulieh sends this my way a couple of days ago, but since then it has been covered by others (e.g., see Reason here and here, and reddit/Firearms here and here, and also, never forget the NRA’s position on bump stocks).
This is a very well-written and well-researched opinion and points out the distinction between a function of the trigger and function of the shooter.
A bump stock does not turn a semiautomatic firearm into a machine gun by the statutory definition of machine gun.
Even if the Fifth Circuit is wrong, the ATF lacked the authority to make this change.
We have no business deferring to the authority of the federal regulators to make this determination since there is no lack of clarity on this issue. The issue is perfectly clear – a rifle outfitted with a bump stock is not a machine gun.
Yet the move, which the Justice Department described as a clarification of the regulation, is not without risk. Because the rule was created through executive action, rather than a statute validated by Congress, it has given companies confidence that they can keep selling individual gun parts.
Administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss possible litigation, said the new guidance would almost certainly be challenged in federal court on the grounds that it violates the Gun Control Act of 1968, which allows people to build firearms for their personal use without submitting to background checks or applying serial numbers.
Their upcoming rulemaking on unserialized firearms not only violates prior statutory law, it now suffers from the Fifth Circuit decision on bump stocks, which says that the ATF lacked the authority to inflict this new regulation on the American public.
Queue up the same thing for unserialized firearms. And a thousand other lawsuits.
The only problem with the Fifth Circuit decision is that it applies only to states controlled by the Fifth Circuit.
Field & Stream has the backstory. “A wildlife photographer named Slwomir Skukowski recently shared rare video footage of a mature wild boar fighting off a wolf pack in a Polish forest near the village of Mrzeżyno. The three-minute clip was filmed with a trail camera, and it’s amassed hundreds of thousands of views since Skukowski uploaded it to Youtube on December 13. It shows the big Eurasian boar thwarting multiple advances from at least seven wolves working in unison to bring it down.
In the video, the big hog is seen charging into the encircling wolf pack with reckless abandon. The wolves continue to approach the boar, but they never actually take it down—at least not in front of the camera. Eventually, the snorting pig scatters the canines, and they retreat to a nearby ridge before regrouping for another attack. Around the three minute mark, the wolves disperse and the clip cuts out.”
Of course, we don’t know what eventually happened, but it’s significant that one hog dispersed a pack of seven wolves, not once, but multiple times. They are smart enough to know when there is danger of being gored by an animal that can run as fast as they can.
This is why you carry in the bush regardless of where you are. In the Northwest it might be brown bears, but in the South it’s snakes, wild hogs and black bears. There is danger everywhere. Never go out in the bush without a sidearm.
Here is the video.
Here is a related video from the Southlands of the U.S.
Del. Bill Wiley (R) prefiled HB 1420 (HB1420) on Dec. 13. The legislation amends existing state law regarding prohibited concealed weapons to include the following:
For the sole purpose of carrying a concealed handgun, any person who carries a handgun anywhere he may lawfully carry a handgun openly within the Commonwealth and who is otherwise qualified under this article to obtain a concealed handgun permit. Such person shall not be required to meet the requirements of subsection B of § 18.2-308.02 or subsection B of § 18.2-308.06, as applicable, to carry a concealed handgun under this subdivision.
Just like in my home state of North Carolina except it’s the CLEO who must approve. Furthermore, purchasing a handgun requires a permit from the CLEO (of course, a CHP suffices for the five years it’s valid). We’re an oddball state I must say. I can’t recall the last time the voters handed the legislature to democrats, if ever since I’ve lived here.
But the legislature has to fight the governor’s mansion for just about everything. I’m not sure of the makeup of the Virginia legislature, but I’d like to see them move forward while Youngkin is governor of the state.
If I have any readers in Virginia, please keep us posted on progress, and if possible, supply me with the email address of Mr. Wiley so I can stay in touch with him on this issue.
This information comes from PhD work at the University of Georgia (Blaise Newman, a PhD student at UGA) and which is sponsored by Sitka (which makes perfect sense).
See the link for the details, but here is the BLUF. Avoid blues. Avoid anything you might wash your gear or clothing in detergent containing UV brighteners.
What’s even more interesting is that a deer’s ability to see in the blue spectrum dictates where they move and when. Newman’s most recent project touched on this connection by tracking whitetail bucks in Florida with GPS collars and seeing how they moved through different landscapes at different times of day. She found that these bucks often chose to move through more open and brightly lit areas that reflected plenty of blue light including UV.
“They’re actually moving through an environment that makes it easier to detect you,” she says. “One way I always relate it is if you had the option to walk down a dark alley or a well-lit alley, which would you choose to move through?”
Newman also evaluated how deer move during low-light hours by hooking them up to an electroretinography machine and measuring their response to different light stimuli. (This is essentially the same technique that was used in the Deer Lab’s 1992 color vision study.) She found that deer were most sensitive to light and movement under twilight conditions, which supports the idea that deer are more active at dusk and dawn because that’s when their eyes function the best.
“One of the most interesting things we found is that deer eyes can detect the best, and are most sensitive, during twilight periods,” Newman says. “So, if you’ve been hunting all day just waiting for that buck to come by, and he’s finally coming out at twilight, you better be careful because his vision is the most sensitive it’s been all day.”
If deer vision seems inferior to ours, that’s only because we see the world through human eyes. As apex predators and tool developers, it’s beneficial for us to see in finer detail and to be able to recognize a wide range of colors. These subtleties aren’t so important to deer, though. Their eyes have evolved to prioritize detection over detail, and their abilities in this department are vastly superior to our own.
“Deer are a prey species,” Newman says. “Having detailed discrimination isn’t really important to deer. They just need to be able to detect and escape something.”
When it comes to color vision in particular, Newman explains that deer benefit from having less “chromatic noise.” By not having to process so many colors in the retina, their eyes can detect movement more quickly and easily. This means that deer can process visual cues much faster than humans do.
“They see motion at an astounding rate compared to our own ability,” she says. “The other aspect is temporal resolution—the time interval over which you integrate information—and their temporal processing just outstrips ours.”
This topic is important to me because I’ve had five or so concealed carry guns and nine or ten holsters. I spent money I shouldn’t have to find the right weapon and manner of carry for me. Most of the training about how to find a carry gun is terrible, as the video points out.
He waits until the 13th minute to discuss what really should be the very first thing any trainer touches on with regard to this topic. If you want newbies to have fun and be comfortable, that’s a good start but what we want in order to make new freedom lovers who take the defense of self and family seriously is confidence.
Building confidence from the start is key. If somebody with minimal experience doesn’t have confidence in the weapon and themselves, they won’t practice or carry the firearm.
The first confidence-building step is to rent guns, lots of them, to find the one they can hit with. This might mean more than one trip to the range, returning to narrow down the two or three that seemed good to the new shooter.
We should never talk new shooters into buying features they don’t want, such as safety, specific types of sights, caliber, etc. Speaking of which, caliber doesn’t matter if they have no confidence in the gun and no confidence in their ability with it because they won’t carry it in that case. A small caliber gun you can hit with and have confidence in is better than a bazooka left in the safe because you won’t carry it.
How a firearm feels in your hand is a sales counter technique, not a serious-minded way to find the right gun. You must shoot the guns to find the one you will have confidence in and carry every day.
He does address the ability to hit, draw-ability, and biomechanics, but really, the ability to hit is primary because from that comes the confidence to practice all other aspects. Even if you’ve owned several handguns, rent, before your next concealed carry purchase, rent several firearms.
Be flexible in how you will carry. Most people get a picture in their mind of how they will carry; then they buy the tools for that style only to find it doesn’t fit their job, or around children, any number of factors, or it hurts their back, etc. Find the gun you can shoot, then find the carry method for that gun that is appropriate for your life circumstances.
I ended up going with outside the waistband carry under an untucked shirt because that’s the best way for me to carry the weapon I can hit with. I never wanted to or thought I would end up carrying this way. But I can draw and hit; confidence in shooting is why I carry what I do the way I do. I don’t care one iota what gun or holster or carry method or caliber or features all the counter salesmen and high-speed operators think are good, and neither should any newer shooter. Find what works for you through actual shooting!
The video shows a lot of guns and a lot of information, but there are nuggets of good info.
Magazine loaders are especially handy for competition shooters. Today we are going to examine some of the best magazine loaders in 2023 for competition shooters. While anyone can benefit from a magazine loader, competition shooters are in a unique situation. They often have to load a lot of ammo, and as mentioned, that’s a great way to get sore thumb syndrome.
On top of that, there might only be a very short time period between runs to reload. Maybe you are getting an alibi run due to a broken shot timer. Maybe you’ve had a mag issue and are down a mag, so reloading your mags quickly is important.
Caldwell AR Magazine Mag Charger
We also had to consider the environment the competition shooters occupy. They need something that’s portable and easy to move between stages. Preferably something they can toss in a range bag and call it a day. Speed and portability are the two defining features we looked for when choosing our top five magazine loaders of 2023 for competitive shooters.
Supplementary features include the calibers and magazines they incorporate. We need some common magazine types and calibers. No one is shooting 9mm Makarov in competition these days. On top of that, we need one that’s easy to use and foolproof. With these features in find, here are our favorite magazine loaders.
Maglula makes excellent loaders. I use them. Some of the others mentioned look very interesting. The title says it’s about competition loaders but there are others. A brief overview of each is provided. Read the rest.
Surprising no one, if you haven’t been following the NY case of Ivan Antonyuk v. NY, the state of NY still hasn’t accepted Bruen, and won’t until the SCOTUS slaps them down again. The federal district court ruled in favor of Antonyuk in a lengthy and well crafted decision that issued a stay on the recently enacted NY law, only to be blocked and held in abatement by the 2nd Circuit by a three-judge panel who said nothing about the merits of the decision. The 2nd circuit overrode the district court decision with only a few cursory sentences.
The Antonyuk case was appealed directly to the supreme court, with Sotomayor demanding that NY reply. They did with this brief. In it, the state of NY insults the SCOTUS and tells them they aren’t needed.
Friend of TCJ Stephen Stamboulieh, a terrific attorney, genuinely good man and defender of liberty, issued his reply, and it’s a wonderful thing to behold.
As Gandalf the Grey said (before he became Gandalf the White), “Until at last I smote my enemy and threw down his ruin upon the mountainside.”
This may not be over so the conclusory sentiment may be wrong, but may Stephen be victorious over his enemies and throw down their ruin upon the mountainside.
Before you dive into the video (and it’s a very good and informative video), I have some remarks. Ignore them if you want to dive straight into the video.
First, QC is a subset of QA, QA being a function of not only QC testing, but engineering, management oversight, problem reporting and resolution, and so on.
Second, the word accuracy is the most misused word when concerning firearms. Most of the time a rifle can be made accurate by adjusting the iron sights or optics. What most people refer to when they say a rifle is accurate or not accurate is precision. A small group on the target at the point of aim is both accurate and precise. A large group at the point of aim is accurate but not precise. A small group not at the point of aim is precise but not accurate, but can be made to be accurate by adjustments. A large group not at the point of aim is both inaccurate and imprecise. Accuracy can be adjusted into a rifle. Precision cannot. Precision is a function of the rifle and ammunition. Precision has to do with repeatability and statistically similar outcomes with increasing sample size.
And that last point is important. The Daniel Defense rifle did well compared to the Block II rifle, but they both suffered from imprecision. They are not 1 MOA rifles. Or are they?
With the right ammunition they both can be, as can be a lot of rifles that don’t shoot 1 MOA or better. Mass produced military ammunition isn’t high QC grade ammunition. To get good AR-15 ammunition requires buying those $1.50 – $2.00 rounds of .223 made by Hornady and other manufacturers who spend time and money on QC.
Both QA and QC costs money. It costs as much as the component does in most cases. If you want your rifle to be a 1 MOA or better gun, shoot high-QC ammunition. That means the powder has been metered, the bullets are not out-of-round, the center of gravity (CoG) is located at the centroid or thereabouts, etc. If you want to practice rapid fire, or fire under movement, purchase bulk military grade ammunition. If you want to shoot with precision (smaller groups), buy high quality ammunition. It will cost money.
Yes, barrel harmonics has something to do with all of this, as does machining tolerances, but the main point here is that good ammunition changes everything. He proves that right up front in the video.
Range: 7yd
Targets: two targets each with a head (3×5 card) and torso (8″ plate) scoring zone
Start position: holstered or ready
Rounds fired: 32
This is another variant of the Changing Gears drill. The purpose of this drill is to build realistic multiple target shooting skills, and to further develop a shooter’s ability to regulate the balance between accuracy and speed necessary to get hits against different size and distance targets.
You’ll create two targets, A and B. Each target will have a 3×5 card as a head zone, and an 8″ plate as a body zone. It should look like this:
There is no scoring listed but you can make your own with friends. Click on the source for the drill procedure.
