November 2007 - Posts

• News that caught my eye !!!

  Seems like no matter where you turn the"doo Gooders" are making some law that makes them feel good. I see California or hereafter called "The fruit & Nut bowl of the U.S" seems to think that if the makers of semi auto handguns use a "micro Stamp" imprinted on the casing  when fired that all of their problems will go away . Well, I have news for them. It's not going to anytime soon. In fact, I would believe it won't do anything but make some trial lawyer richer faster. What don't these so called politicians get it ? Its a proven fact that most citizens who carry guns are responsible. Next the lead ban in the Nut Bowl requires  that by July 1, 2008 big game and coyote hunters within the range of the endangered Nut bowl Condor use non lead bullets. Of course the nut bowl experts think that it will increase sales because of the rush to get the upgraded bullets for specific calibers..... Hmm... Randy, I need some non lead boolets. Can you supply ? I personally think it will drive people away from the sport instead of enhance it. Why don't we jump like the shot gunners and go to steel only to find out that it ruins quality barrels and does not work well. Then and only then did we come up with Bismuth, and heavy lead etc. Seems to me we should have found a substitute that worked well and patterned well first. If I done one I did five thousand choke jobs or installed new tubes. I hope that in the rifle lead problem that we at least find a workable substitute before we jump. One thing for sure if we leave it up to the Pinhead politicians that we are doomed.  Your thoughts are welcome Stan  Posted Nov 27 2007, 03:51 PM by Stan Ware with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Opinion

• U.S.Supreme Court to hear landmark 2nd Amendment case

  The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the much-discussed District of Columbia v. Heller case (Docket 04-7041), previously known as Parker vs. District of Columbia. This means the High Court WILL review the decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals striking down the D.C. statute banning residents from owning handguns. The Court of Appeals held that the District of Columbia’s anti-gun law violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In reaching its decision, the Appellate Court found, as a matter of law, that the Second Amendment provides an individual right to keep and bear arms. This was a “breakthrough” finding. Other Circuit Courts of Appeal have held that the Second Amendment merely confers a “collective right” to keep and bear arms. In practical terms, this means that the Second Amendment applies to an organized militia (i.e. the National Guard), but not to individuals. The High Court’s decision to hear D.C. v. Heller is historically significant. This will represent the first time the Supreme Court rules directly on the meaning of the Second Amendment since the U.S. v. Miller case in 1939. The decision in Miller was poorly reasoned and left many basic issues unresolved, including the key question “Does the Second Amendment confer an individual or collective right?” The “collective right” interpretation of the Second Amendment is disfavored among legal scholars, despite what anti-gun advocacy groups claim. Many of the nation’s most respected law professors, including Lawrence Tribe of Harvard Law School, Akhil Reed Amar of Yale, William Van Alstyne of Duke, and Sanford Levinson of the Univ. of Texas, have strongly argued that the Second Amendment secures an individual right to keep and bear arms.   BACKGROUND The mayor of Washington, D.C., Adrian M. Fenty, filed the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, setting the stage for the High Court to rule. According to FBI statistics, Washington D.C., despite its gun ban, ranks as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States and maintains one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the country. In March, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in striking down the District’s gun ban, held in Parker, et al., v. District of Columbia that “The phrase ‘the right of the people’ . . . leads us to conclude that the right in question is individual.” This was the second time in recent history that a Federal Circuit Court upheld the view that the Second Amendment was an individual right. In 2001, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in the case of U.S. v. Emerson that “All of the evidence indicates that the Second Amendment, like other parts of the Bill of Rights, applies to and protects individual Americans.” Posted Nov 21 2007, 08:15 PM by Al Nyhus with 2 comment(s) Filed under: News of Interest, 2nd Amendment

• 4 shot in hunting accidents in MN

  This year has been bad for hunter safety in Minnesota. So far we are looking at 4 shootings and one fatality. Not a good year for hunting to say the least. In looking at the reports of when and why there seems to be nothing out of the ordinary. Most were driving deer or posting when it happened and apparently got excited when seeing the large buck, which most of the time is the norm. Accidents are preventable in most cases and should be on your mind 100% of the time. Saying that is easy, but doing it is something else. When  I first started in the gunsmithing business it was on my mind alot. Liability insurance is not cheap and having 3 employees to watch I decided to make some rules and stick with them. One of them was  NO live rounds in a gun in the shop for testing. Go outside to test fire no exceptions. Well, everything went well untill  hunting season with all the repair and Warranty work we were working six and seven days a week..... well it turned out I was the one who broke the rule. I had just repaired a A-5 Browning and was testing the function. A easy way to do it is load it and work the barrel by hand.... well the customer was waiting patiently and in a hurry I grabbed live ammo and loaded it and for a brief second it entered my mind to go outside. I said to myself the gun has a safety sear and a interlock  in it and what could possibly go wrong with it. Never happen. Well, as I was working it the second round went off and blew a nice 12 guage hole in the roof... yes, it was a slug. I looked up after I could hear and thru the hole in the roof was a beam of light shinning on me and it said, Stan you dummie, I let you by this time !!! After, I put in a new safety sear which is designed to catch the trigger sear in case it malfunctions. It had broken. Never ever does that happen....... but it did.  I reflect on that happening  a lot and think of how bad it could have been. Especially for someone who should know better. So, I got the scaffolding out and was up on the roof repairing it when Suz came home from work... I tried to fix it before she got home but didn't make it. So, my tail went between my legs again...... first she was mad and later just felt sorry for me. Eating crow is hard especially if its cold. The  Next time was when a customer bought in  a Winchester M-94 in a old canvas gun case. Laid the gun on the counter in the case and started taking it out of the case and the front sight got stuck in a  hole in the case.... as he was reaching in by hand to grab a hold of it by the lever I noticed the gun was pointed at me... I grabbed it and swung it out of my aim and said wait a minute here. Is the gun loaded ? He answered yes, thats why I came here I have a stuck case in the chamber.  I proceeded to give him a good tongue lashing and after I cooled off I went outside to remove the case. With a quick jerk it came loose and yes it was a live round. I know he felt bad, but this is how things happen. Just one second later and the outcome could have been different. The  Point of this blog is to remind you that you can never be too safe. Being safe is YOUR Job and don't for a second drop your guard. Minnesota has a good hunter safety program and youngsters coming up must complete the course in order to get a license which is good.  So, when going hunting, bench shooting or just plinking make sure its on you mind.  Have a great hunting season Posted Nov 06 2007, 02:34 PM by Stan Ware with no comments Filed under: Hunting, Safety