The Green Bay Press Gazette:

2nd shot at concealed carry veto override near

State lawmakers could vote as early as this week on overriding Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle’s veto of a bill that would allow people to carry hidden guns and knives.

“I believe the public supports concealed-carry legislation,” said Ed Foral of Green Bay. Fears that the law would spur crime are unwarranted, based on statistics from states that have such legislation, he said.

“I want to see law-abiding responsible adults be able to get a permit,” said Foral, a hunter.

Wisconsin is one of four states that bans concealed weapons, but gun supporters and Republican legislators have been trying to change that for years.

Doyle’s veto of the bill Friday sets up a replay of events two years ago when the Assembly failed by one vote to override his veto of similar concealed-carry legislation.

Here’s hoping.

Found on Google maps.

Chris reports the proposed property tax on software has been shelved. For now.

Looks like they make 100 round Beta C magazines for Glocks. Click for a pic. I wonder if they make a good CCW holster for that?

I said yesterday it was no wonder the NRA spends so much money lobbying, the Bradies get their propaganda for free. Head has another case to illustrate that:

Short version- police raid drug house, no one hme but a legal semiauto “AK-47”. The rifle becomes the criminal. The rest is taken almost verbatim from The Brady Center or VPC.

And my favorites:

The AK-47 bullet is approximately 3 inches in length. A size that is large in comparison to that of an every day ink pen.

Actually, the bullet is only about 3/4 of an inch. The entire cartridge is about three inches.

Police describe the weapon as a hand held machine gun.

It’s not a machine gun, though.

Clueless or complicit? You decide.

The other biased Washington paper writes:

The JAG, we are told, mistakenly thought the open-tip round was the same as hollow-point ammunition, which is banned. The original open-tip was known as Sierra MatchKing and broke all records for accuracy in the past 30 years.

The difference between the open-tip and the hollow point is that the open tip is a design feature that improves accuracy while the hollow point is designed for increasing damage when it hits a target.

About 10 days ago, the Army JAG in Iraq ordered all snipers to stop using the open-tip 175-grain M118LR bullet, claiming, falsely, it was prohibited. Instead of the open-tip, snipers were forced to take M-60 machine gun rounds out of belts and use them instead.

The order upset quite a few people here and in Iraq who said the JAG ignored the basic principle of every military lawyer that there is a presumption of legality for all issued weapons or ammunition that are made at the military service level at the time they are acquired.

“She forced snipers to use less accurate ammunition, thereby placing U.S. forces and Iraqi civilians at greater risk,” a Pentagon official said of the JAG, who was not identified by name. “And she incorrectly issued an order. JAGs may advise a commander, but they cannot issue orders.”

After Army lawyers were finally alerted to the JAG’s action, the order was lifted and the JAG was notified that the open tip was perfectly legal for use by snipers. However, the reversal was followed by the Army officials’ taking retaliation against a sniper who blew the whistle on the bogus order. The sniper lost his job over a security infraction in reporting the JAG.

The open-tip (hollow points with an opening that is not as wide as a hollow point, I’d imagine) probably has more stopping power than a FMJ round used in M60s. Still, the guys out there risking their lives should have what works and that was denied to them. They knew that and it cost one guy his job.

Update: In comments, persimmon notes that open tip is:

It has a tiny opening in the tip because it is manufactured backwards, from base to tip, rather than from tip to base. The manufacturer recommends against using it for hunting because it lacks expansion properties.

He links to this discussion of open tip ammo. Also, in comments, HL tells us the open tip is a result of the manufacturing process and not to make the rounds more deadly.

By about 50%. Clearly, they need more gun control.

TriggerFinger’s sources tell him the Supreme Court will deny cert in the Seegar’s case. He says:

the present court is not ready to hear a 2nd Amendment case.

Alito may change that

Here’s hoping.

Update: The court has denied cert. TriggerFinger notes Roberts recusal in the case could be a factor. Publicola thinks gunnies are fooling themselves:

So what I think will happen is SCOTUS will continue it’s 6 decade plus streak of avoiding the issue altogether.

Michael Silence notes:

Tennessee’s tax on unauthorized substances such as cocaine and marijuana and some alcoholic beverages brought in more than $1.7 million in its first year, according to revenue officials.

The tax, which is modeled after a 13-year-old North Carolina tax aimed at fighting illegal drugs, has resulted in $1,714,565 in collections and nearly $32 million in assessments.

“Our effective implementation of this tax aids in fulfilling the law’s primary purpose to channel funds collected into local law enforcement agencies to help combat, prevent and reduce drug crimes in Tennessee,” said Tennessee Department of Revenue Commissioner Loren L. Chumley.

Boy, is my face red. See, I predicted the tax would make no money. More:

With the tax, people in possession of illegal drugs must purchase stamps marked with a number to be affixed to packages containing the drugs.

When drugs without the stamp are found, the Tennessee Department of Revenue taxes the alleged drug possessor and gives them an opportunity to pay the tax. If it is not paid, agents may seize and auction anything of value the person owns.

No criminal conviction is needed for the state to enforce the tax, and information obtained from the sale of the drug stamps cannot be used in criminal prosecutions, according to the Revenue Department. At the same time, buying drug stamps does not provide immunity from criminal prosecution.

Oh, never mind. My face isn’t red at all. The purpose of the law was to get rid of due process in drug cases and it did just that, like I said.

I mentioned it yesterday. It looks like they stole footage from a subguns.com regular. He wants to sue.

The push is back there too. The Governor has vetoed it before. I feel her career (like Doyle’s) is soon to be finished. Mark it.

There are only four states without a CCW provision. Three of them are pushing it and one of them is Illinois.

Cabinboy answers the question: Are you guys a militia?

In Tennessee, they card you for O’Doul’s and other non-alcoholic beers? I didn’t. The Mrs. is pregnant and can’t drink but she got the urge to have a beer. Off to the store I go and I was carded for it.

Some people see Knoxville City Councilman Bob Becker as one of the most “progressive” members of City Council. Yet he does things that don’t seem to be very progressive. While many are puzzled on his position to sell the Candy Factory and Victorian houses he now advocates that the oath taken by City Council is too long and he wishes to “trim some of the fat”.

I am so confused about what “progressive” means.

From the Knoxville News Sentinel

By HAYES HICKMAN, hickman@knews.com
January 23, 2006

Even the president of the United States swears to less on Inauguration Day, according to Knoxville City Councilman Bob Becker.

Now Becker would like to trim a little fat from the mayor’s and other city officers’ oaths of office.

In fact, he wants to strike nearly the entire second half of the swearing-in script, just short of the “So help me God” ending.

In the section, elected officials, police officers, firefighters and others make a very detailed promise not to have any sort of financial conflict of interest with the city.

“It’s long and I don’t think it’s very helpful,” said Becker, who took the oath himself about two years ago. “There’s a value in brevity.”

more

CounterTop’s gun blog awards are still going strong. I didn’t see the News Aggregator Category before but I’m nominated there as well. So, head on over and vote. For me, if you like.

Via Adam Groves, we learn there is a push for the restaurant carry bill again:

Tennessee gun rights advocates will continue to push legislation allowing gun permit holders to carry firearms into restaurants that serve alcohol, said James Folkner, founder of the new Chattanooga chapter for the Tennessee Firearms Association.

Under the current law, gun owners can enter an eatery and break the law without knowing the restaurant serves alcohol, he said. The bill’s intent is to keep gun owners “from becoming criminals just when we go out to eat,” said Mr. Folkner, a 21-year-old University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior.

Yesterday, the Mrs. and I decided we’d clean out the closet. We put a bunch of clothes that neither of us wear anymore in a big, lawn care type trash bag. I was tasked with taking it to Goodwill to make a donation. I arrive at Goodwill at 12:50. I get the fairly heavy bag out of the truck and make my way to the door and notice they’re not open. I see movement inside and a lady comes to the door. I think she’s coming to get my donation. She says to me that they’re not open yet and that I’d have to come back at 1:00.

I say: Ma’am, I’m just dropping these clothes off. I don’t need a receipt or anything.

She says: You’ll have to bring them back at 1:00

I say: I can’t just give these to you now?

She says: We open at 1:00

I was unconvinced that I was hearing her properly and refused to believe she didn’t really understand the concept of Goodwill and I wanted clarification. So, I said: You’re telling me that you’re not going to take this donation because I happen to be here ten minutes before you open?

She says: Sir, you’ll have to bring them back at 1:00.

I take the bag and drop it by the front door. I then say: Well, I’m here trying to make a donation. I’m leaving the bag here. You can throw it away if you want.

I didn’t realize Goodwill was run by the state. I got in my truck and left. What is wrong with people?

Seen at Chaos in Motion:

A U.S. Army sniper set a new distance record (1250 meters) for a kill with a 7.62mm sniper rifle. Staff Sergeant Jim Gilliland made the shot on September 27, 2005, during fighting in Ramadi. The Leupold sight Gilliland used is only accurate out to a thousand meters, so the chest shot was partially guesswork, and luck. Gilliland aimed 12 feet high, to adjust for the drop the bullet would make over that distance. Gilliland later found out that the Iraqi he dropped had just killed a friend of his, Staff Sergeant Jason Benford.

That’s a helluva shot.

A New York Daily News editorial:

Military-style assault weapons of the kind wielded by Henry have been showing up in increasing numbers since Congress and President Bush allowed federal ban on the guns to expire in late 2004. They did the bidding of the National Rifle Association, and it’s all but certain that innocent blood will be spilled because of the blind irresponsibility of the NRA and its agents in Washington.

First, the ban did not affect Military-style assault weapons. It affected guns that happened to look like Military-style assault weapons but functioned like any other semi-automatic weapon. The ban expired well over a year ago and I’m sure all this blood in the streets would have happened by now. But it has not. Henry’s Uzi-style machine pistol sounds made up. It’s either an Uzi or it’s not. I’m betting not and that it was a semi-auto clone of an Uzi, which functions just like any other semi-auto handgun.

I guess that’s why the NRA spends so much money lobbying. The Bradies get their propaganda printed for free.

Having handled Tam’s 9mm AR with a single point sling, I decided I want one for my next AR-15. Even better, I decided I also wanted one for the UltiWasr. Being the cheapskate err do-it-yourself, Wile E. Coyote School of Gun Smithing sort that I am, I decided to build one. If you want to build a two point sling, plans are here. But I wanted a single point and refused to drop $40 on it. I searched the web and found this image of a popular brand of tactical slings and worked from there:

For this project, you will need the following: 60 inches of 1.5 inch think nylon webbing (yeah, it sounds like a lot but it’s better to do too much and cut excess off than to make one too short); 12 inches of 1 inch nylon webbing (note: if your sling swivel is 1.5 inches wide, you can use 1.5 inch webbing); one 1.5 inch buckle; three 1.5 inch slides; one 1 inch slide; you will also need a pair of scissors, a lighter to burn of frayed edges if you have to adjust length, and needle & thread (optional* but you’ll need a fourth 1.5 inch slide if you’re not up to sewing). Here’s a pic of the parts and tools:

You can get all of the parts at Strapworks.com, shipped to your door for $5.38 + $3 shipping. Or, if you must do it today, any fabric store (like Joanne’s) will have the stuff but they probably won’t have the cool looking OD green like I got. I only have two 1.5 inch slides pictured, one didn’t make it into the shot.

This sling consists of two parts, the base and the sling. The base will stay attached to the weapon and the buckle will connect the sling to the base. This is to make it easy to remove and, if you feel froggy, you can put many bases on many weapons and use the same sling. Of course, these slings come in at less than $10 so you could just make as many as you like. Take the 1 inch slide and slide it on the 1 inch nylon webbing and place it through your sling swivel, sling mount as shown:

Place male piece of the buckle opposite the slide. Run the webbing through buckle from both ends, doubling over to add extra support. The best way I can tell you how to tie this not is to show you the picture:

If you can’t do that, you may need to find another way to secure the base. Or I may need to do step by step pictures. Let me know if you have issues. Next, use one 1.5 inch slide and the female end of the buckle. Stitch the webbing together as shown.

*Note: I said the thread and needle were optional. You can use a fourth 1.5 inch slide to secure the female end of the buckle and the loose slide.

On the opposite end of where you just stitched, place the two remaining 1.5 inch slides as shown:

Loop the unstitched end (now with two slides on it) through the first 1.5 inch slide that was stitched as shown:

Insert the unstitched ends through the remaining two slides and tighten. Adjust using the two slides. Here it is all done and compared to the original image I obtained:

Not too bad. Man, I’ve got to get a damn job.

Jed tells us that the .416B by Barrett Rifles is about to enter the market. As he says, Take That, California (who recently banned 50 Calibers):

Rifles chambered for the new .416 Barrett cartridge are now available for legal purchase by all law-abiding US citizens and their state and local law enforcement agencies. Even those of you living in California. The .416 Barrett shoots flatter, faster and is inherently more accurate than even our own .50 BMG rifles.

Apparently, the round is a necked down .50 BMG.

Catfish has a piece on buying your first pistol. He poo-pooed my favorite handgun (Sigs) and we had it out in comments. Go read.

David Hardy has much more on the effort to get shall issue concealed carry here. Some history that I found interesting:

In 1998, Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing that “the people have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose.”

No wonder there’s an effort to override Doyle’s veto. Uncle predicts that Doyle’s political career is about to go belly up. Mark it.

Mr. Completely reports that the VPC may be stealing video from subgun shoots. They have a history of that.

Speaking of stealing, I should probably come up with a new logo header.

In a state with a motto like Live Free Or Die, it should be a no brainer that no retreat legislation would pass like it did in Florida. Nylarthotep has more.

I caught about 8 minutes of Bill Maher’s I’m Swiss. It was all I could stand because he was wrong and (most importantly) not funny. In those 8 minutes, he blamed the fact the Democrats lost in 2004 on gay marriage. Seriously. Now, if anyone thinks that the Democrats lost because of gay marriage, they’re not paying attention. Remember John President Bush and I have fundamentally the same position on gay marriage. Same position Kerry? The Democrats tried it too. I could have toughed it out if the guy were funny.

In Cali, Bay City News:

More than three months have passed since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill allowing local governments to regulate the neutering, spaying and breeding of specific dog breeds, but it was only Thursday that the law took effect.

Senate Bill 861, authored by state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo/San Francisco, would have become effective on Jan. 1, but a referendum drive to overturn the law left it in limbo.

However, the referendum petition failed to garner the 373,000 signatures needed to overturn SB 861, and the bill went into effect today, Speier’s staff director Richard Steffen said.

The “bill allows cities and counties to pass specified breed-specific legislation for mandatory spaying and neutering, and breeding restrictions,” according to California state Senate floor analysis.

It’s now OK to pass ineffective laws to deal with irresponsible pet owners. I guess Cali is no longer not a wholly evil place.

Some neat, high speed photos of bullets going through stuff:

Standard Mischief has more on Google v. .gov. He notes:

Google gives you a cookie with a unique number in it that’s sorta like your Socialist Insecurity number except it’s a lot easer to get, and get rid of. That cookie is sent back to Google every time you interact with Google. Even if your ISP provider changes your IP address. Even if you access Google at a coffeehouse or a friends house. And because Google does not have a “data retention policy”, all of that data presumably gets warehoused, forever, just in case they ever find it useful.

He even tells you how to rid yourself of annoying Google cookies.

Jack McElroy, the editor for The Knoxville News Sentinel, has a blog. Here’s his column on why he started a blog:

Why am I undertaking this commitment to spending even more of my day hunched over a computer screen?

Credibility.

In recent years, the credibility of the news media has suffered mightily.

It’s called the Sentinel’s Sentinel. Via Michael.

Update: Well, I guess they’re not that into criticism since their comments section is heavily moderated.