The Wandering Minstrel

Always a fan of the great Walter Cronkite, but seldom in agreement with his political leanings, it is with nostalgia and a bit of sadness that we acknowledge the life and works of a great American News Icon. We grew up and spent most of our young adulthood watching and listening to the way it was.

God bless the family in this hour of loss.

Walter Cronkite - 1916-2009 - Rest in peace.

Would you buy a car from this man? I’m thinking I would . . .

Check out the CNN ‘authorized journalist’ - a smirking, opinionated, air head if ever there was one.

Hat Tip Planet Gore

Last week, Governor Jan Brewer (R-AZ) signed SB 1243 into law. This sensible piece of legislation allows you to display your weapon to those to may pose a potential threat to you or someone else. The new law provides that you can not be penalized for defusing a potential violent act by brandishing your firearm. The majority of violent predators will become instant cowards when confronted with a firearm.

Brewer signed SB 1243 and four other pro-second amendment laws into effect in the State of Arizona. This is a good thing for the citizens of Arizona despite the panicked cries of a vocal minority.

Last February, when the Obamination appointed Janet Napolitano, then the Arizona governor, as head of Homeland Insecurity, he did the citizens of Arizona a favor as Brewer then became governor. Napolitano would have vetoed all five of the bills that Brewer signed.

Brewer is the silver lining of the dark Napolitano appointment cloud.

As we prepare for retirement, The Better Half and I think that a new home in Arizona is looking better and better.

From NRA-ILA:

Thursday, July 16, 2009

WAYNE LAPIERRE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION

AND

CHRIS W. COX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION - INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION

Other than declaring war, neither house of Congress has a more solemn responsibility than the Senate’s role in confirming justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. As the Senate considers the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Americans have been watching to see whether this nominee – if confirmed – would respect the Second Amendment or side with those who have declared war on the rights of America’s 80 million gun owners.

(more)

or are you gonna shoot me?

Get yours here.

Welcome 2A Roundup readers.

We try to diligently observe the basic four rules of gun safety when handling our guns. One rule, the one to keep your trigger finger clear of the trigger guard, doesn’t mention where that finger should be when not in the guard.

Now, I’m not a gun instructor (hope to be someday soon), but the index finger position in the photo seems very natural to me. Putting the index finger along the longitudinal axis of the gun keeps it out of the guard while keeping it in position to fire when ready.

Some arguments have been made that, if the trigger finger is properly indexed, it is permissible to ‘muzzle’ suspects, bystanders and fellow officers/shooters. I couldn’t disagree more.

Here’s an excerpt from a November, 2002 article from the Police Policy Studies Council:

Recently, a respected firearms instructor for a major agency wrote a piece advancing the premise that as long as good habits are displayed concerning “indexing” the trigger finger, in what we at PPSC call “register” position, it was permissible to allow your muzzle to cover suspects, suspected innocents and other officers.

I agree with the other instructor about the importance of proper trigger finger indexing, but disagree strongly with his dismissal of muzzle control as a component to practical firearms safety. We need both.

The special operations units that disregard muzzle control as a cultivated part of organizational culture have records of accidentally shooting themselves and each other. I know of an FBI HRT member that shot himself in the thigh with his 1911 while manipulating it at home. SAS members will admit, in relaxed social settings, that they have shot each other in both training and operational environments. Without a culture of muzzle control, along with trigger finger control, it is just a matter of time until we shoot ourselves or an associate. [more]

Emphasis mine. I’m sure that these concepts apply equally to civilian shooters as well as occupational shooters.

One of these days, I’m going to pull into the lot at this place. It’s Del Amo Motorsports in Redondo Beach, CA. They are a specialty vehicle store (see Can-Am Spyder). For a while now, this little three-wheel-four-door green thing has been on display on the lot outside of the showroom - I would like to know what it is and some stuff about it and other exotic rolling stock on the lot. So, when I’m not in a hurry to get home after a grueling session at the aerospace mill up the street, I just might stop and have a look.

We have a local indoor range where we practice on a regular basis. We just renewed our family membership for another year, even though we hope to be elsewhere by a year from now.

The ammunition supply at the range seemed to have improved today. There were lots of reloaded rounds in plastic bags on the counter - most popular calibers seemed to be available. The new ammunition on the shelf seemed to be spottier, although plenty of .45 auto was available - but there is still a posted limit of two boxes per customer and no ammo to go. One of the range instructors told me that it was up to the discretion of the person selling the ammo if there were to be any exceptions. He said, in our case, “since were regular members” that we could get some extra if we felt we needed it.

We shot 150 rounds of 9mm and 25 rounds each of 12 and 20 ga. I didn’t buy any replacement ammo for that since we have a fair supply.

I did get a couple of boxes of American Eagle .45 ACP 230 gr. FMJ ball ammo since this is the first week I’ve seen other than jacketed hollow point rounds on the shelf at the range. I brought them home and we will probably be doing a hundred rounds of .45 next Sunday.

Supply is up, but so are the prices.

Welcome 2A Roundup Readers!