Mike's Campfire

Time for Nevada Gun Owners to Act Against SB 221 (Updated June 13, 2013: Vetoed!)

The Nevada Legislature has passed SB 221, which among other things would require a background check be done for all sales of firearms in NV – even private sales.  Essentially, this means that any sale of a private firearm would have to be done through a licensed dealer (just like they do in Kalifornia); additionally, the purchaser would have to pay the background check fee, and there would then be a record of the sale.  Along with the incovenience to both buyer and seller, this sounds suspiciously like a back door to registration, doesn’t it?

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval has until June 14 to either sign or veto the bill, and he has made it known that he will likely veto this legislation.  However…his office has set up a “hot line” for the public to call and express either their support or their opposition to SB 221, leading me to believe that the Governor is waiting to see which way the political wind is blowing before he jumps in and takes any action.  Of course Michael Bloomberg’s totalitarian minions, the anti-gun trolls over at MAIG, are now running a nationwide ad campaign (complete with dubious statistics) urging people who don’t even live in Nevada to weigh in in favor of SB 221.

It is important that NV gun owners make their voices heard on this issue.  We can do so two ways.

First, call the Governor’s hot line at 775-684-5670 and select option 2 to express your opposition.  (The phone line is an automated voice mail setup that doesn’t ask for any identifying information, although it does give you the option to talk to one of the Governor’s staffers if you want to do so.  I’m reliably informed that people have called and “voted” more than once.  Not that any man of honor and integrity would do such a thing, but I thought I’d toss that out there for whatever it’s worth…)

And second, e-mail the governor’s office using the contact form at http://gov.nv.gov/contact/governor/.  For the “Topic/Issue” field, I just selected “Legislation,” and made sure the body of the e-mail made reference to SB 221.  I even got a semi-form letter e-mail back from someone in the Governor’s office, thanking me for my input on this issue while studiously failing to give any indication of what Governor Sandoval might or might not be thinking.  If you e-mail (and I urge you to do so), remember to be polite and courteous, but firm, in reminding the governor that this bill will not, contrary to what the sponsors are saying, have any meaningful impact on public safety, and will reflect poorly on Governor Sandoval in the next election if he signs it into law.  Don’t rant and rave in incoherent anger, since that’ll just make you sound like a liberal.

Now is a time when all law-abiding Nevada gun owners need to stand together and make our collective voice heard.  Remember, the clock is running on that June 14 veto deadline, so let’s get on the stick and make this thing happen.

Update – June 13, 2013:  Governor Sandoval has vetoed SB 221.  If you’re interested, you can read his veto message here.  According to the Nevada Firearms Coalition’s Facebook page, the Governor’s office received 152,995 phone calls in opposition to SB 221 – and only 27,464 calls in favor, in spite of the efforts of anti-gun organizations in other states.  Good job, people!

Now let’s put that contact link above to use again, and let Governor Sandoval know we appreciate his principled stand on this issue.

Love Is Blind

I’ve heard of attractive younger women taking advantage of older men who have a lot of money before.  But from Washington County, AR comes a story that is just, well…bizarre.

Seems the younger woman in this particular case, to put it politely, isn’t that young.  And definitely isn’t attractive.  And 100% of the time is not country singer Allison Krauss, although that’s who she told victim Don Fulton she was.  Oddly enough, Fulton believed her, begging the question whether or not he was possibly becoming senile and/or legally blind.

Let’s compare and contrast.  Here’s the apple of Don’s eye:

I wouldn’t hit that with a baseball bat.  But I guess I can see how, maybe, a lonely older fellow might see a passing resemblance to the real Allison Krauss:

Okay.  Just kidding.  No, I can’t.  But poor Mr. Fulton fell for Evers’s scam, hook, line, and sinker.

WBALTV.com – The detective told Fulton that his son was concerned that the woman he met online was taking advantage of him. According to police, Fulton said, “She is Alison Krauss, the famous bluegrass picker and singer.  She is for real. I have met all of her family and people in the music world, Dolly Parton included, and Randy Travis is one of her best friends.”

Fulton told the detective he married Evers in February. Since that date, investigators said Fulton’s bank account had decreased by $40,000, Evers had Fulton sign a quitclaim deed to his home and had filed a new last will and testament redistributing Fulton’s assets to her in the event of his death.

Police charged Evers with exploiting an endangered or impaired person – a felony in the great state of Arkansas.  And the heartbroken Mr. Fulton?  Let’s just hope he exercises a little more common sense next time.

Water Your Plants

So it seems that a recent fire which burned four apartments in Carson City, NV was caused by a potted plant that spontaneously combusted.

Wait – what?

CarsonNow.org – A fire that destroyed four apartment units at the Parkway Plaza complex Saturday was caused by spontaneous ignition of a potted plant on a wood deck, Carson City Fire Chief Stacey Giomi said.

The fire was called into the Carson City Fire Department at 5:48 p.m. Saturday and by the time firefighters arrived a heavy amount of smoke and flames covered four of the complex units on College Parkway near Carson Street. No injuries were reported, however small pets died in the blaze.

The plastic planter had potting soil in it that was dry and spontaneously ignited, which melted the plastic and caused the wood deck to ignite, Chief Giomi said.

Emphasis mine.  And no, it isn’t a joke.

Cindy taught me long ago that the composting process generates heat, the degree of which varies depending on the materials being composted.  This isn’t a bad thing in itself – in fact, the heat can be beneficial to plants by destroying many bugs, parasites, and disease-causing organisms.  In this case, though, a set of freakishly perfect circumstances allowed the compost contained in the potting soil to become hot enough to actually ignite the plant, leading to a potentially deadly situation.

I’d say the odds of this happening again anytime soon is probably pretty darn slim.  But just to be safe, I think I’m going to make sure all the plants are well watered.

Vicarious Liability

We’ve got a municipal election coming up.  No surprise, then, that over the weekend Austin found a campaign flyer from one of the candidates hanging on our front door.  He brought it inside and showed it to me.

“I wouldn’t vote for this guy,” he said.  “He’s a criminal.”

I looked up in surprise from what I was doing.  “Really?  How’s that?”

“Well,” he said, “the sign at the entrance gate says ‘No Soliciting.’  Hanging flyers on doors is soliciting, right?”

I thought about that.  “True,” I told him.  “But I doubt he was personally out there passing out flyers.  He’s probably got people that do that for him.”

Without any hesitation, Austin replied, “Nixon didn’t break into the Watergate himself, either, but he was punished for it, wasn’t he?”

I had to admit, the kid was right.  “So…” I said, “this candidate here conspired to solicit?”

He grinned.  “That’s right!”

That’s my boy.

A Sad Day

Friday was a sad day for shooters and country music lovers everywhere, since we lost two living legends that day:  country singer George Jones, and renowned exhibition shooter Tom Knapp.

George Jones was, in my opinion, one of the best country artists ever, and recorded what might be the most iconic (maybe even the perfect) country and western song:

He was 81 when he passed away Friday.

And for dedicated shooters, Tom Knapp needs no introduction.  The man was a wizard with a shotgun, holding three world records, and his impressive skill inspired the rest of us to try to shoot better.

Both of them will be sorely missed.

Friendly Reminder

If you haven’t done so already, this would be an excellent time to contact your elected representatives and tell them how you feel about the two pieces of pending anti-gun legislation that have recently been introduced in the U.S. Senate – Charles Schumer’s so-called “Fix Gun Checks Act of 2103″ (S. 374), and Dianne Feinstein’s S. 150, aka the “Assault Weapons Ban of 2013.”  The NRA has a good synopsis of the two bills if you don’t feel like wading through a bunch of Senatorese right now.

Not sure how to contact your reps?  The NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action makes it easy.  On their “Write Your Reps” page, they’ll let you e-mail all of your elected officials from one place, and even have a sample letter/e-mail in case you don’t want to take the time to compose your own.  Remember to be polite and courteous, but let’s make sure everyone in Washington knows we won’t tolerate any further infringement of our Constitutional rights.

A couple of major gun manufacturers are also making it easy to contact your Senators and Congressmen – both Ruger and Smith and Wesson also have tools on their sites similar to the one on the NRA site.  So all your excuses are gone.  Go and do.

Not the Sharpest Pencil in the Box

Just about everyone these days is aware of the danger of identity theft.  Armed with a few tidbits of personal information, a bad guy can pass himself off as you convincingly enough to go online and wreak all sorts of havoc with your bank accounts and credit score.

Unless, of course, he (or she) is stupid enough to present you with your own stolen driver’s license as identification – which actually happened to a Lakewood, CO waitress recently.

Fox 31 (Denver) – Brianna Priddy’s wallet was taken last month.

During a shift at Applebee’s, Brianna was taking drink orders when the customer handed over a fake I.D. which just happened to be Brianna’s driver’s license.

The server pretended nothing was wrong, but went to the back and immediately called police.

Oops.

Seems the thief had been using Priddy’s driver’s license to write bad checks.  You’d think she might have noticed that her waitress bore an uncanny resemblance to the photo on that card…

Oh, and she was selling drugs, too – which the police also charged her with when they arrived at Priddy’s workplace.  Any words of wisdom, Sir Knight, for this one who has clearly strayed from the One True Path?

Indeed.

Just How Safe Are Modern Cartridges, Anyway?

Ever wonder what would happen if a handgun or rifle cartridge were to somehow detonate or “cook off” outside the chamber of a gun?  Or what would happen if your garage full of rifle cartridges caught fire?  Or even what the likelihood would be of a cartridge discharging if a case of ammunition was dropped from a height?

Wonder no longer.  SAAMI (the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute) has a video that shows exactly what would happen if all of these bad things were to occur.  The short answer:  not very much at all.  I always figured if a handful of cartridges were tossed into a fire, they would all cook off and poke holes through everything in the nearby vicinity.  Not so much, it turns out.

Content warning:  LOTS of handgun, rifle, and shotgun cartridges are destroyed in this video.  Not an easy thing for a dedicated shooter to watch, especially with ammo availability being what it is right now.  Keep a Kleenex handy while you watch this.

This Might Be a Self-Correcting Problem

Over on Taurus USA‘s Facebook page, I came across this gem of a post from one of their fans (who shall remain safely anonymous):

I was curious and placed one of my 7.62 x 54 rifle ammo into the judge polymer 2″ revolver. However the cylinder would not close for obvious reason, but the round itslef fit like a glove. Since my judge does not chamber the 3″ 410 shot.shells, anyone know if the larger chambering judges would fit that? And has anyone been brave or bold enough to attempt that? Im just curious, but curiosity might.get my hand blown off.

Hmm.

You know, there’s a lot of stuff I’m curious about, too, but when it comes to things that make a mighty boom, I tend to use lots of caution.  I guess I’m just far too emotionally attached to my hands and fingers, or something.  For the firearms non-cognoscenti out there, the Taurus Judge is a revolver chambered for both .45 Colt cartridges and .410 shotgun shells.  Apparently a 7.62x54R rifle cartridge will also fit at least part of the way into the chamber.  Who knew?

I have to wonder – if the Facebook guy had been able to close the cylinder with the rifle round inside, would he have actually tried shooting it?  If so, there’s very likely a Darwin Award in somebody’s future.  Shooting any cartridge in any firearm not specifically chambered for it is a bad idea.  Shooting a rifle round in a revolver not chambered for it is a really bad idea, for a couple of reasons.

First, and certainly foremost, any firearm is constructed to withstand the amount of pressure typically generated by the cartridges it was designed to shoot.  (Okay, firearms are actually “proofed” at pressures significantly higher than those they will be reasonably expected to withstand…but they’re certainly not designed to hold up to pressures in the proof ranges on a regular basis.)  In the case of the Taurus Judge, a .45 Colt cartridge will generate pressures up to about 14,000 psi when fired (assuming high-quality factory ammunition made to SAAMI specifications).  A .410 shotshell comes in slightly lower, at a maximum of about 12,700 psi.  So far, so good.

Rifle cartridges are a whole different ball game, however, with the 7.62x54R generating maximum pressures up to approximately 52,000 psi.  Even if Taurus proofs the Judge at twice the pressure generated by a .45 Colt round, the 7.62 rifle round this guy’s talking about is still somewhere up around twice that figure again.  Think any revolver is capable of handling that?  Better think again.  Even if it’s physically possible to chamber and shoot the 7.62 cartridge in a magnum Judge, that’s a catastrophic failure waiting to happen.  I’ve seen pictures of revolvers that have failed due to excessive pressure.  It’s not pretty.

All that pesky physics and stuff aside, I’m not sure what would be the point of trying to shoot a .30 caliber bullet out of a .45 caliber barrel.  Accuracy would be miserably poor, since the bullet wouldn’t engage the rifling.  You’d be more effective throwing rocks at your target.

Bottom line:  if you want to shoot rifle cartridges out of a handgun, get yourself a Thompson Center Encore or Contender, and knock yourself out.  At least then you’ll know the gun won’t explode in your hand.

Setting the Record Straight

Yesterday a Las Vegas resident successfully used a firearm to defend his family against a group of three home invaders.

LAS VEGAS (KSNV MyNews3) – A man suspected in a home burglary attempt is dead and another is in custody after an incident this morning near West Sahara Avenue and South Jones Boulevard.

A news release from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says its Dispatch Center received a call around 7:45 a.m. from the occupant of a home in the 2300 block of Westwind Road indicating intruders were attempting to forcibly gain entry into his house.

The resident, a 72-year-old male who had been the victim of a recent burglary, retreated into his bedroom and retrieved a handgun. As the suspects entered his bedroom the victim fired at least one round from the handgun, causing suspects to flee.

One of the suspects made it into the back yard, where he fell dead from a gunshot wound.  A handgun was recovered from next to his body, leaving little doubt as to the purity of his intentions.  Another suspect ran from the area on foot and escaped.  The third, in a sequence of events straight out of a TV sitcom, tried to leave in a vehicle – and struck a responding police car.  He was arrested.  The homeowner is not being charged with any crime.

I love a happy ending.

I got a little annoyed, though, by a comment some nimrod e-mailed to one of the TV news channels here in town regarding this incident.  The station aired this particular comment, among others, during their nightly newscast.  The commenter said something to the effect that, “While I understand firearms are sometimes used for self-defense, for every time this happens there are hundreds of murders committed by people with guns.”

Say what?

The truth is, that’s just about exactly backwards.  Let’s look at some actual statistics and see what we see.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau (which derived its data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports), a total of 13,756 murders were committed in the United States in 2009.  Of these, 9,203 were committed with some type of firearm.

Compare this with the estimated 2,500,000 times per year that a firearm is used to deter or stop a violent criminal (according to the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology).  In 92% of these defensive uses of a gun, citizens were able to protect themselves by either brandishing the gun or firing a warning shot rather than shooting their attacker.

That’s somewhere around 270 legitimate defensive uses of a firearm – with or without a shot actually being fired – for every murder committed with a firearm.  The moral of the story?  Know what you’re talking about before you start stating “facts” in a public forum.

Lots more good (and interesting) facts about guns over at the JPFO website.