JULY 3RD MATCH RESULTS: Chad Case finished 1st overall, once again, leading all comers by more than 6 sec. Mike Grant finished in 2nd place, shooting in CDP. Wayne Johnson in 3rd place less than ½ sec behind Grant. John Mercurio in 4th place finished less than ½ sec apart behind Johnson. Mike Grant, shooting his second gun in ESP, finished 5th overall, 3¼ sec behind his CDP finish. Allen Lowe finished in 6th place. Alec Libante was 7th overall, in no small part due to his accurate shooting. Alec was also the most accurate shooter, finishing with only 2 points down. Tex Hollis finished 8th overall, almost disproving the notion that “you can’t miss fast enough” with 40 points down. Austin Neves was 9th overall. Scott Yu finished in 10th place overall.
Ed Vernon and Wayne Johnson were our match directors, providing four short stages that we completed shooting and tearing down in time to get to Marietta Pizza house for our annual meeting. By the way, whose idea was Stage 4?
ANNUAL MEETING, SOIREE AND PIZZA FEST: As usual, most of us ate and drank too much. I do have to report some inroads of societal change. Several members were observed eating salads. Thank the Lord; their salads were eaten with healthy helpings of Pizza.
Our Grand Poo Bah outdid himself acquiring the items for our prize table. It was even more spectacular than previous years. The prizes alone each exceeded cost of club membership. And we get to shoot a lot as well. Thank you, Mr. President! Thanks also to Ed Vernon for acquiring the knives for the prize table. I’m especially fond of my new Benchmade 710 Axis Lock folder. Oddly enough, no one chose the Barbecue Sauce as his or her prize. Again. Pay attention: you will see this material again. One wonders what the expiration date is for the sauce…
AMMUNITON CONTROL LEGISLATION: SB 357 and AB 352 are part of a continuing effort at greater control over our firearms. Purportedly measures for public safety ‘microstamping’ and ‘serialization’ can be easily defeated by criminals. These legislation goals have as their purpose making the sale of handguns and ammunition too expensive for most of us to afford and perhaps too expensive for many companies to produce.
It is interesting to note that every year the same members of the legislature come up with new anti-gun proposals, or revive previous failed attempts at regulation of firearms. For example, Paul Koretz not only sponsored AB 352 this year but last year revived AB 602, which proposed a 10 cent fee on each munition sold. “Munition” was defined as: “… a projectile with its fuse, propelling charge, or primer fired from a weapon, or any of the individual components thereof.” Fortunately, opposition to that bill was strong enough that the bill was withdrawn.
Koretz was also the sponsor of the bill that banned the 50 BMG. That bill passed and was signed into law chiefly because there wasn’t sufficient opposition to it. Active opposition to gun control measures is the responsibility of us all. Without active opposition to gun control efforts, we will not only be legislated out of our “…Right to Keep and Bear Arms…”, but we will be legislated out of all of our rights. Speaking of the part-time California Legislature, Mark Twain said, “No man’s life or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” California now has a full-time legislature, beware.
SB 357 UPDATE: As of today, Senate Bill 357 has been amended and is still in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. As with Assembly Bill 352, SB 357 has been amended to become effective in 2009. Among other things, SB 357:
8) States that commencing January 1, 2009, makes it a crime punishable as an alternate misdemeanor/felony for any person to manufacture, cause to be manufactured, import into California for sale or personal use, keep for sale, offer or expose for sale, or to give or lend any handgun ammunition that is not serialized pursuant to this bill. [Emphasis mine]
9) States that commencing January 1, 2016, makes any person who possesses in any public place any handgun ammunition not serialized guilty of an infraction, punishable by a fine not exceeding $500, or a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment up to six months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. [Emphasis mine]
10) Defines "public place" as an area open to the public and includes streets, sidewalks, bridges, alleys, plazas, parks, driveways, front yards, parking lots, automobiles, whether moving or not, and buildings open to the general public, including those that serve food or drink, or provide entertainment, and the doorways and entrances to buildings or dwellings. [Emphasis mine.] [From the legislative web site; http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/]
Although both bills passed through committees with voting on strictly party lines, and although they passed by majority vote in their respective houses of origin, the vote of the full houses was not strictly partisan. Democrats in both the Assembly and the Senate voted against the bills.
MORE INFORMATION RE: ANTI-GUN LEGISLATION From SAAMI: The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute is an association of the nation's leading manufacturers of sporting firearms, ammunition, and components. Since being founded in 1926, SAAMI has been actively involved in the publication of industry standards, coordination of technical data, and the promotion of safe and responsible firearms use. SAAMI currently publishes more than 700 voluntary standards related to firearm and ammunition quality and safety [The links in blue should all be hot links. If they don’t work, go to SAMMI’s web site at: http://www.saami.org]
California Attorney General Lockyer's testimony in support of SB 357 raises more than a few important questions. He claims it would cost manufacturers an additional "one-quarter of one cent" to laser engrave a serial number on the base and side of a bullet of "handgun ammunition." Senator Dunn claims that the "cost is negligible" and that it is "easy to implement" bullet serialization into the ammunition manufacturing process. SAAMI accurately says it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars for firearms manufacturers to completely redesign their production facilities to incorporate the laser engraving bullets and casings and that bullet serialization is economically impossible.
If SB 357 passes the California legislature, it will mandate that any handgun bullets and their cartridges manufactured, imported and sold in California be engraved with a serial number. The goal behind the serialization idea of matching bullets or their casings recovered at a crime scene with the purchaser of the ammunition may sound laudable in theory, but it is totally unrealistic. Manufacturers would be forced to abandon the California market or go bankrupt. Increased costs for ammunition would dramatically affect our armed forces and state and local law enforcement by forcing a curtailment of training that would threaten homeland security.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Duncan Hunter Opposes SB 357: "I am a proud supporter of law enforcement's efforts to reduce the criminal misuse of firearms," says Duncan Hunter in a letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. ". . . I am strongly opposed to this proposal because of the harmful impact it will have on the manufacturers of ammunition used by our nation's armed services and law enforcement agencies."
Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is concerned for the future of the ammunition industry in his state. "I have toured one of the major manufacturing plants and cannot imagine it being practical to serialize each cartridge. ... My administration has reflected my high regard for law enforcement and homeland security. But because there is no safe, feasible way to implement the requirements of this bill, I do not believe it is justified."
Congressman for All Alaska, Don Young, in his letter to Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, says, "I am a firm believer that state issues fall squarely within the domain of state and local elected officials. However, because of the nature of ammunition manufacturing, the character of the California market, and the national security concerns, there is in this unique case a federal nexus for review."
Assemblymember Ray Haynes, in an editorial submitted to the Los Angeles daily Metropolitan News-Enterprise says the California Legislature is "missing the target again on crime."
View a modern ammunition factory in action
This visual tour through a modern ammunition factory shows the impossibility of bullet serialization. SB 357 threatens to disrupt a sophisticated, highly efficient bullet-manufacturing process.
Law Enforcement Does Not Support This Bill
Modoc County's Sheriff Bruce Mix and District Attorney Jordan Funk state that this legislation will "diminish the freedoms of law-abiding citizens ... and will unnecessarily complicate and hinder proven crime-solving strategies".
Senator Dunn's bill is intended to help reduce the criminal misuse of firearms. Yet many in law enforcement oppose this bill because there are no proven law enforcement benefits. No study has been initiated to demonstrate any value in serialization and the enormous costs to implement a serialization system would impact funds for proven crime-fighting initiatives.
James J. Fotis, Executive Director of The Law Enforcement Alliance of America states that SB 357 will endanger officer safety by harming police firearms training. " . . . if passed, this legislation will certainly play out like a horror flick on public safety and law enforcement in California."
Anthony J. Craver, Sheriff-Coroner of Mendocino County states, "This is not a way to reduce gun-related crimes. Let's face it; this is just one more way to make gun ownership in California more difficult for honest people."
Winchester Ammunition manufactures several million rounds
of ammunition in a single day to supply the military, law enforcement agencies
and sportsmen.
"Any attempt to comply with the proposed requirements would result in
a massive slowdown in production," says R. M. Hammet, president. "It would be impossible
as a matter of pure economics for my company to comply with this proposal
and remain profitable."
Thomas L. Millner, president and CEO of Remington Arms Company, Inc. claims that "this proposal would be prohibitively expensive to implement" and would "turn modern assembly lines into early 19th century piece work shops."
SAAMI's letter to the California legislature states that there are important cost/benefit and public policy questions that must be fully examined and answered before bullet serialization of ammunition is imposed upon the industry.
The National Association of Sporting Goods Retailers, the association of more than 51 of the strongest and best firearms and sporting goods wholesale distributors in North America, say that passage of this bill would have a tremendous negative impact on the sporting goods business in California. Technology is untested and serialization will not reduce crime.
The National Reloading Manufacturers Association (NRMA) represents American companies that manufacture reloading components and tools. Executive director, Greg Chevalier urges Governor Schwarzenegger to oppose bullet serialization "for the long term good and safety of California and all Californians." The bill will not reduce crime and will further burden "law-abiding gun owners and the millions of Californians who participate in the shooting sports and in the hobby of reloading."
The California Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. opposes bullet serialization not only because there are too many "unconsidered and uncontrollable variables" that make this legislation an impractical crime-prevention tool, but also this "would quickly become just another poorly thought out law that in reality, once again, affects lawful citizens who are not a part of the firearms-related crime problem."
The CRPA is also urging California sheriffs to oppose serialized handgun ammunition. "The issue of survivability of a serial number on bullets is only a small part of the total picture ..." Take Action Now.
California’s legislature is considering requiring all new handguns beginning in January 2007 to micro-imprint to shell casings when fired the make, model and serial number of the firearm. SAAMI opposes this "microstamping" legislation. The concept is based on a faulty assumption that it will be effective in reducing the criminal misuse of firearms. Among the many reasons why microstamping is a bad idea is that criminals can simply file away the laser-engraved information, defeating its effectiveness. Criminals could acquire spent cases from a shooting range and leave them for police to find at a crime scene. Also, normal usage and cleaning by law-abiding gun owners can wear away the laser engravings. Clearly, microstamping is not a reliable crime-prevention tool. The economic impact on law enforcement, military, civilians and the industry, and the fact that microstamping is a sole-source technology that the legislature should not mandate before a thorough objective and independent study is undertaken are more reasons why SAAMI is opposed to this legislation.
Modoc County's Sheriff Bruce Mix and District Attorney Jordan Funk state that this legislation will "diminish the freedoms of law-abiding citizens ... and will unnecessarily complicate and hinder proven crime-solving strategies".
Randy Perry, legislative advocate for The Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) representing 58,600 peace officers and 710 local peace officer associations, feels that "bypassing this law by simply replacing the firing pin would be too simple and would not merit the additional cost to firearms that microstamping would cause."
James J. Fotis, Executive Director of The Law Enforcement Alliance of America,
states that no independent studies have been done to determine if microstamping
is practical. ". . . decades of forensic science
with firearms clearly demonstrates that the marks left on bullets by the internal
parts of a firearm change dramatically with normal wear."
Anthony J. Craver, Sheriff-Coroner of Mendocino County, states, "With millions
upon millions of existing handguns owned in California, the probability of
this bill having any positive effect on public safety is absurd."
Michael S. Carona, Sheriff-Coroner of Orange County, agrees that it would be great to trace handguns and spent bullets used in a crime back to the criminal but "this simply isn’t possible in an uncontrolled environment. "I cannot see any benefit other than the simple act of symbolism in the passage of AB 352."
The California Rifle & Pistol Association is urging California sheriffs to oppose firearms microstamping. Besides inadequate testing and research of this technology, the "proposed legislation would place an unrealistic and inappropriate burden on lawful firearms buyers and the manufacturers of the firearms that they purchase."
Assemblymember Ray Haynes Says Legislature Is "Missing The Target Again On Crime"
SAAMI's letter to the California legislature states that microstamping will not reduce crime and all the reasons why, including the fact that criminals can easily defeat the technology, as with “ballistic imaging,” by simply filing away the laser engraving and that this unproven technology needs to be independently and objectively tested before it is considered in the legislature. Take Action Now!
The information below is taken from a 1996 Law School Review article. The full text is available at http://www.saf.org/LawReviews/Healey1.htm
John Marshall Law School Review, 32, 1998 (1)
PLUGGING THE BULLET HOLES IN U.S. GUN LAW: AN AMMUNITION-BASED PROPOSAL FOR TIGHTENING GUN CONTROL, Brendan J. Healey
“Ammunition control is the next frontier in U.S. gun control policy. As Scott D. Dailard noted only four years ago: “Since the birth of national firearms policy in 1934, Congress has neither adopted nor proposed any primary gun control strategy based on the regulation of ammunition.” [1] The situation has changed somewhat since Dailard’s pronouncement, at least in terms of gun control proposals, [2] but ammunition control remains a comparatively virgin legislative territory. Public attention and recent legislation have focused on armor-piercing and cop-killer bullets, but such laws operate at the margins and do not regulate the vast majority of ammunition. [3] Though this type of legislation [Page 2] garners headlines, other types of ammunition control laws could be much more effective while assuming a lower profile on the U.S. political landscape.”….. [Emphasis mine]
“The federal government can and has reduced the danger to other aspects of American life. Through concerted, wide-ranging efforts the government has managed to slash mortality rates caused by cigarettes and automobiles, which, like guns, can be dangerous yet are widely used products of modern society. [9] This Article does not recommend following the same strategies used in those campaigns, but these experiences show how to reduce fatalities without overly intruding on basic freedoms. The same can be done for guns, and the avenue to greater efficacy is ammunition control.”…..[Emphasis mine]
“This Article explores ammunition control as an avenue toward [Page 3] reducing gun violence in a culture that already is saturated with guns [10]—and nearly as saturated with gun control laws. [11] [Note that the idea that guns are not the problem is not considered] The centerpiece of this Article is a proposal to bring ammunition, not just handgun ammunition but all ammunition, under the aegis of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (“Brady”). [12] This proposal is designed not only to remedy some of the shortcomings in Brady but also to provide better control of firearms in general. Variations on this idea have been proposed by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, then Senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio, and Congressperson Joseph Kennedy of Massachusetts. [13] These proposals, lost in the “sexier” aspects of gun control, however, have garnered little attention. [14] This Article highlights, in a uniquely comprehensive manner, the advantages, and disadvantages, of adding ammunition to Brady.”….. [Emphasis mine]
By Jim Kouri, CPP
Posted by Jim Kouri, Tuesday, June 28th, in The Phoenix News www.PHXNews.com
The National Association of Chiefs of Police released its 17th Annual Survey of Police Chiefs and Sheriffs and some of the survey findings are surprising and compelling. The survey – released in the January 2005 issue of Police Times Magazine – had some surprising results on various topics including terrorism, gun control, homeland security, and drug enforcement.
NACOP asserts that the public perception of how police view certain issues is based on media coverage, which is not necessarily accurate. When police chiefs and sheriffs are allowed to respond to poll questions anonymously, the politics may be removed from their answers.
Terrorism: When asked if the United States would be attacked by terrorists within the next year, 86.6 percent said yes. Meanwhile 70 percent of police commanders said they received training and other resources from the federal government to combat terrorism, while only 49.2 percent said their departments participated in terrorism-response simulations.
Homeland Security: When police commanders were asked if they observed more cooperation between federal and local agencies, 69.7 percent said yes. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents stated they found the color-coded threat matrix an effective way of informing the public of terrorist threats. When asked if the process of arming commercial airline pilots is too burdensome, 53.6 percent of the police executives answered yes.
Gun Control: With regard to private citizens owning firearms for sport or self-defense, 93.6 percent of the respondents supported civilian gun-ownership rights. Ninety-six percent of the police chiefs and sheriffs believe criminals obtain firearms from illegal sources and 92.2 percent revealed they hadn’t arrested anyone for violation of the so-called “waiting period” laws. When asked if citizens concealed-weapons permits would reduce violent crime, 63.1 percent said yes. [Emphasis mine]
War on Drugs: Forty-one percent of police commanders surveyed said they believe marijuana should be available for medicinal purposes and 68.9 percent said they’ve seen an increase in the abuse of prescription drugs such as Oxycontin and other Schedule II drugs. Only 22 percent of police commanders believe the war on drugs has been successful, while 28 percent said they favored decriminalization of “soft drugs” such as marijuana.
Police News Coverage: An overwhelming 93.2 percent believe the news media is not fair and balanced in their coverage, while 70.1 percent said they have at least one officer assigned to handle media requests.
Technology: Ninety-four percent of the respondents believe convicted felons should be required to submit DNA samples to be catalogued in a manner similar to that used for fingerprints. Only 29.8 percent said their departments issue tasers to their officers.
Other Topics: With regard to criminal (racial) profiling, 67.3 percent stated they had a written and enforced policy prohibiting such profiling. Only 23 percent of the respondents felt that civilian-review boards are effective in handling citizen complaints against police officers, while 58.7 said their subordinates attended sensitivity training classes.
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. He writes for many police and crime magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer, Campus Law Enforcement Journal, and others. He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com, Booksamillion.com, and can be ordered at local bookstores.
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