Kinda Pretty

You may think this is stupid.

I wanted to get a picture before I got them all dirty with soot from burned solid propellant.

Those are fresh, never-fired, Starline .38 Special shell casings.

I've reloaded thousands of shell casings, but they've all been at least once-fired.  They never come out of the tumbler that clean, inside and out.  I had a Brownells gift card, and not enough .38 Special brass, so a brown truck brought me these little brass gems.

MidwayUSA Coupon Code - $10 off $100

Link to offer on MidwayUSA site. They haven't been doing a lot of coupon codes. I guess people have just been throwing handfulls of cash at them since the election and December, so they just don't need to do it.

1. Go Shopping
Add regularly priced, in-stock products to your cart totaling $100 or more - Promo Code JULY413
Excludes Ammo, Reloading Components and Gun Parts
2. Enter Code
Enter the promotion code into the box titled "Promotion Code" on the Shopping Cart page.
3. Receive Discount
See the discount applied in the Order Summary on the right hand side of the Checkout pages.

Special Details
Offer expires at 11:59 p.m. CT on July 4, 2013. Hurry!
Can only be used once per Customer.
Sale, Clearance, out-of-stock, Ammo, Reloading Components, Gun Parts, FNH, Geissele, Nightforce and Sitka Gear products do not count towards the total.
Gift certificates do not count towards the total.
Can only be used on midwayusa.com on regularly priced, in-stock products.
No phone, fax or mail orders please.
Cannot be used with any other promotion code, or combined with Dealer, Birthday or Special pricing.

Major Faux Pas From Mayor Bloomberg and MAIG

Boston Bomber "Speed Bump" Tsarnaev's name was on a list of gun victims compiled by Mayors Against "Illegal" Guns.

It's one thing to pad the statistics of gun victims with criminals killed in self-defense or in the line of duty, but to put a known terrorist on the list was pure and unadulterated stupidity.

Illinois Will Get Concealed Carry, but. . .

John R. Lott Blog - Illinois finally adopts concealed carry law: All states finally have a concealed handgun law on their books.

Illinois has been the only state that grants NO permits for concealed carry, not counting Washington D.C. as a state.   As I posted earlier, The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Illinois could not deny the Right To Bear, and had to come up with a permitting system.  The Illinois House passed a new concealed carry bill with an 89-28 vote.  The Senate passed it 45-12.  These margins are high enough to avoid a veto by governor pat quinn  That's the good news.

Bad news:

• The law will not allow concealed carry on mass transportation or in government buildings, schools, taverns*, stadiums, casinos^, rahm emanuel's house, or in parks.
• $150 fee for the permit.  That's a lot.
• 16 hours of training is required before issuance, the most of any state in the country. (Are shooting ranges still outlawed within chicago city limits?).
• The bill that passed does not include the requirement to abolish local gun ordinances, such as chicago's "assault weapon" ban that was written into earlier bills.
• Law enforcement can object to the issuance of a permit.  The applicant can appeal the objection to a seven-member panel of appropriate personnel (retired judges, FBI agents).

So if you live in chicago, where you are most likely to need a firearm to defend yourself, and take the bus or train to work or to visit friends, you're still prohibited most of the time.  Maybe time to get a bicycle?  If you are one of many on welfare, you probably can't afford the fee and training.  Still, I guess something is better than nothing, and the law will undo some of the ridiculous restrictions on transportation of firearms that currently exist, at least for those who can get their hands on a permit.

* - Businesses that serve alcohol, where less than half of the sales are food.

^ - There's casinos in Illinois?  Legal ones?