St. Louis Alderman Advocated Armed Self-Defense

On a more positive note. . .

Frustrated by rising crime, St. Louis Alderman Charles Troupe called on the citizens of his ward to arm themselves.

“The community has to be ready to defend itself, because it’s clear the economy is going to get worse, and criminals are getting more bold,” said Troupe to Fox News.

Troupe recalls that when he went to a district police commander with some residents, they were told, “there was nothing he could do to protect us and the community . . . that he didn’t have the manpower.”

Remember The L.A. Riots? Many Seem To Have Forgotten.

“For years, California has been a laboratory for gun control. Now that laboratory has come crashing down in flames. . . It’s a shame that it took a riot to wake people up about what the anti-gun lobby has done with their fundamental rights,” said James Jay Baker, the Executive Director of NRA-ILA in 1992 after the rioting that came after the verdict was announced at the end of the Rodney King beating trial. Mr. Baker overestimated the logical capacity of the left-wing liberals.

I’ve been going through boxes of old gun magazines, and tossing the ones without anything really of interest to me. The article, “The L.A. Riots. . . From A Distance” by Neal Knox in the August 1992 issue of Guns & Ammo magazine struck me as interesting to say the least.

Clearly, California learned nothing from the riots. They still have some of the most oppressive gun laws in the country, and are pretty high up there worldwide. They still have a waiting period, which likely cost a number of Californians their lives during the riots. “Assault weapon” and “high-capacity magazine” bans limit the resources that California residents can use to defend themselves. Normal law-abiding citizens are denied the right to carry firearms in just about every case.

The police admitted that they couldn’t help everyone. LAPD chief Daryl Gates shrugged and said, “There are going to be situations where people are going to go without assistance. That’s just the facts of life.” The police were telling people they were stretched thin, and that they were “on their own” to protect their homes and businesses.

Shop owners with guns, defending their businesses were branded “Vigilantes: Lacking Confidence in Police,” by The Los Angeles Times. One of the defenders interviewed by the author of the article recalled, “You better know I lacked confidence in police. . . They fled, tires screeching at the first sign of trouble.” The manager of Western Gun Shop said, “Four police cars were there when shooting started. I was very disappointed when they left very quickly.”

In at least one other case, a gun shop (Bowers Wholesale) was promised by police that they would protect the store. Looters took more than 300 handguns.

Still, state law imposes strict limits on how, and what with, its residents can defend themselves, suggesting that residents should rely on police assistance when they are in trouble, and that firearms are too dangerous to have around.

As rioters and gangs drove trucks into gun shop storefronts, taking what they wanted, California residents who wanted to buy guns for defense were saddled with 15-day waiting periods.

The police couldn’t arrest all of the rioters and looters, but they could arrest a few store owners defending their shops.

A National Guardsman shot and killed the driver of a Nissan on his second attempt to run him down. This prompted the Guard to order their people to carry their M16s unloaded. A short time later, two Guardsmen were robbed of their guns and uniforms. Nobody learned anything from that either. The troops posted in airports after 9-11 didn’t have loaded weapons (at least in some places), and the guards at some military bases are still forbidden from keeping their firearms loaded.

Also, there is the issue of the mainstream media essentially sparking the riots by not showing all of the video of the beating. In the first few seconds of the video, King, having already been hit twice by a stun gun, jumped up and charged one of the police officers. You don’t remember that part of the video because it was probably never aired on the major networks. This strikes me as a good example of the media using events to present a sensational story without much regard for the resulting events, something they have continually done to promote gun control in the way they report on murders and in rare cases when they actually report on civilian self-defense.

Those of you who don’t have the tools you may need to defend yourselves, friends, and families, should keep in mind that you may not be able to go out to get what you need when you need it. If you call for help, the sad fact is that help may not come until it’s too late. Get the tools you need before the new congress and White House, with the assistance of propaganda from the mainstream media, ban everything remotely useful for defense.

New Kel-Tec .308Win RFB Bullpup Rifle

Link to RFB rifle product page on Kel-Tec web site.

Rifle Forward-ejection Bullpup

It's sort of like the FN F2000 rifle, but in .308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO. The RFB's action is in the buttstock, near where the shooter's cheek would be (BOOM!). The rifle accepts FN FAL magazines. Barrel lengths will be available from 18" to 32". KT has built 5 adjustments into the trigger, although the trigger pulls on most bullpup rifles are pretty bad due to the linkages required to transmit the force of your finger back to the action.

The scope rail is attached to the barrel, so that barrel to action fit doesn't alter the point of impact. No iron sights will be provided, even if there were, there wouldn't be much room to put them on the 18" carbine.

It looks like the pistol grip is integral with the rifle body, which would make this a one-size-fits-some deal. It might be possible to add spacers to the recoil pad to increase length of pull though.

The rifles are quite ambidextrous. The brass dribbles out over the barrel at the front of the stock. Except for the reciprocating charging handle, which can be switched to either side, the controls are available on either side.

Weight for the 18" carbine is listed as 8.1 pounds, compared to an AR-10A4 16" carbine at 9 pounds, a basic DSA FAL 18" carbine at 8.35 pounds, or a M1A 18" Squad Scout carbine at 9 pounds.

Kel-Tec says the RFB rifles and Carbines should be available for sale in a month or two, but they've been teasing about them for a couple years, apparently.

They say, "The delay is due to a re-tooling effort aimed at adjusting production in order to precede any future negative legislative actions that are likely imminent due to the incoming administration." I take this to mean that they are not going to put barrels with threads at the muzzles on the RFB, and are otherwise trying to neuter the design before a new "assault weapon" ban is passed.

Smith & Wesson I-Bolt Rifle Recall

Recall Notice at Smith & Wesson Web Site

There may be a sear engagement pin defect in a certain run of I-Bolt rifles made in 2007 that could possibly cause unintentional discharge. Check your rifle's serial number against the list in the recall notice to see if you rifle needs to be returned to S&W.

Smith & Wesson M&P Rebate Coming

Details at the official Smith & Wesson Web Site

2 free magazines with the purchase of a M&P pistol (in addition to what you get with the pistol). Offer valid from February 27 to April 30, 2009.

Converting SKS To Take AK-47 Magazines

I heard about this, and it took me a while to find the information.

Link to Zip File With Conversion Instructions. The file is hosted by Simonov.net, but it took me a while to find a link.

I think Dad's Chinese SKS is a collector's item now. Once I found out that it required cutting and welding on the receiver, I gave up on the idea.

2009 Glock Annual Magazine/Catalog Is Out

The Annual magazine is more of an advertisement gimmick than anything else, but it's free. I expect there to be some information and pictures of the 4th Generation Glocks, but I haven't gotten my copy yet, so I don't know exactly what's in it this year.

Click here to go to the Annual catalog request page at the Team Glock website.

EDIT: No 4th Gen Glocks until the 2010 catalog.  The featured pistols in the 2009 catalog are the pistols with revised checkering and fishgill-type slide serrations, which are not Gen4 pistols.

Hubert H. Humphrey On The 2nd Amendment

“Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used, and that definite safety rules of precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.,” said Humphrey to Guns Magazine (“Know Your Lawmakers,” Guns Magazine, Feb. 1960).

I think perhaps that I should mention that Humphrey was a pretty liberal Democrat.

Contrast this with the current situation, where the president, vice president, and leaders in both houses of congress have consistently voted to ban just about every type of firearm, to impose large “sin taxes” on guns and ammunition, voted against laws that protect arms makers from frivolous lawsuits, voted against laws that protect homeowners who defend themselves from criminals who break in. . .

On Diarming Citizens, Back In 1764

"The laws of this nature are those which forbid to wear arms, disarming those only who are not disposed to commit the crime which the laws mean to prevent. Can it be supposed, that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, and the most important of the code, will respect the less considerable and arbitrary injunctions, the violation of which is so easy, and of so little comparative importance? Does not the execution of this law deprive the subject of that personal liberty, so dear to mankind and to the wise legislator? and does it not subject the innocent to all the disagreeable circumstances that should only fall on the guilty? It certainly makes the situation of the assaulted worse, and of the assailants better, and rather encourages than prevents murder, as it requires less courage to attack unarmed than armed persons."

Cesare Beccaria
Of Crimes and Punishments
Edward D. Ingraham translator, 1819; first published 1764
Chapter 40
http://www.constitution.org/cb/crim_pun.htm


Makes perfect sense to me. More sense than the more modern left-wing suggestion that you just let the criminals do what they’ll do, and hope that they don’t hurt/maim/rape/kill you in the process.

Gun “Buybacks” Don’t Work?

Chris Goodson, president of the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners, was asked why he didn’t vote to fund another “buyback” event. He replied, “I’m trying to understand what the benefit [of a gun “buyback”] is. If it’s to reduce crime, it doesn’t seem to have an effect.”

New Winchester AutoComp Smokless Powder

Winchester has designed a ball powder specifically for race guns. Winchester claims an optimal burning rate, with a higher volume of gas, for more effective compensator function. They say it allows smaller charge weights for cheaper reloading, but usually that runs counter to gas volume and compensator function.

The factory load data doesn't have any 9mm Major loads, although the minimum OALs are shorter than is usually used for 9mm Major.

Did some poking around. It seems that AutoComp burns too fast to work for 9mm Major. Also, it won't be available until after the SHOT show, at least.