With the Blog the site itself and everything else, this page is sorely lacking in attention. So over the next couple weeks Im migrating most of the content here elsewhere and then this page will die or become something else...........
Finally Some Truth Leaks Out
Yesterday, I was pleased to notice that "mainstream" media had begun to question the absurd statements being made by US officials concerning the "iron river" of firearms flowing from the United States into Mexico.
For the past weeks, we've heard politicians, bureaucrats and supposedly informed law enforcement officials blame the flow of US firearms into Mexico for that country's reversion back into its old, violent, ways. Today, the other side of our long, common border with the United States looks like some backwater dictatorship. Violence is no longer the exception, it's the rule, with drug cartels fighting it out with each other -and occasionally a corrupt Mexican police force.
Infuriatingly, high-ranking US officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have continued to spout inaccurate statistics that blame the US firearms industry and our retail system for the Mexican violence. They say ninety percent of all the illegal guns in Mexico come from the United States, purchased in legal or illegal transactions, then smuggled into Mexico to arm the cartels.
That is not a statistical fib, it is an absolute bald-faced lie. To repeat something you know isn't true makes whomever repeats it a bald-faced liar as well.
Unfortunately, it demonstrates this new administration's complete and utter disdain for the rest of us. They believe we're as incapable of questioning them as we are of deciding our own futures.
Fortunately, not everyone is buying into the lie.
With Mexican cartel battles involving full-auto rifles, grenades and other military-style weaponry, even the most naive reporter should eventually question officials saying they're being procured in the United States. A reader's note the other day asked "can you get me an address on those Texas gun stores where I can get the machine guns and rocket launchers that are being smuggled into Mexico? I'd like to have some of that for myself."
Finally, some hard questions are being asked.
In San Diego, KGTV television's investigative unit used a forensic firearms consultant to inspect a Mexican army cache of seized weapons. Based on those findings, it was obvious to consultant Marc Halcon that what was being stated by government officials as fact and parroted by reporters was not accurate. In fact, he reported that while US gun shops were getting the blame for supplying the cartels with weapons, the real fact was that many of the high-powered weapons the criminals were using come from the U.S. government. They had been given to the Mexican military to fight the cartels. Instead, it appears they were taken to the cartels by the more than 1,200 soldiers per month who go AWOL from the Mexican army - apparently taking their firearms with them. Since 2000, an average of 16,000 soldiers have deserted.
You do the math on the number of military firearms that could put into circulation.
Thursday, Fox News reported the government statistics, were simply wrong. More disturbingly, they reported, ATF officials didn't seem to be interested in doing anything to correct the inaccuracy.
Truth be told, only a small percentage of the tens of thousands of illegal weapons seized in Mexico each year come from the United States.
The statistic being quoted doesn't refer to the total number of weapons seized, only the ones with marking that allow them to be traced. Tens of thousands of illegal military weapons aren't traced, they're warehoused.
As the old expression goes, there are three kinds of lies: plain old lies, damned lies and statistics.
Personally, I'm just about tired of getting wet feet under blue skies - while my own government continues to tell me it's raining.
The firearms industry, meanwhile, does seem to be the one growth sector in our economy - at least in the near-term. The industry may be quietly concerned about the end of 2009, but consumers continue to drive sales up -despite the fact most of the rest of the economy is suffering.
President Obama, in fact, is on track to be the first repeat winner of our Firearms Salesman of the Year honors. Despite his underlings saying the administration's for firearms and the Second Amendment, the consumers aren't buying it. Instead, they're buying guns and ammunition.
The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICS) shows a 23.3 percent increase in background checks for February 2009 as compared to February 2008. January had a 28 percent increase, December 24 percent and November showed a 42 percent jump when more than 1.5 million background checks were performed.
That huge jump followed the November elections, but I'm certainly not going to try and read any significance into that. It's obviously a coincidence.
Besides, NSSF President Steve Sanetti already tied the two together when he noted that "Since November, sales of firearms in particular handguns and semi-automatic hunting and target rifles - are fast oupacing inventory. Americans are clearly concerned about their ability to be able to purchase these products in an uncertain future."
Finally, in what is probably a prime example of a "buried lead" in reporting, I have it on good authority that federal officials are telling international competitors they can't bring semi-automatic shotguns into the United States for a major international competition. Match officials and competitors have been told the US only wants to allow "break action shotguns" into the country these days. The last time I looked, there didn't seem to be any law to that effect on the books.
But - it seems "off-book" is where some elements of our government prefer to operate these days.
Believe me, we'll keep you posted on this one.
--Jim Shepherd
AMMO FACTS – NO RUMORS!
BOBDAT
ATK, a Honeywell spinoff from the early ‘90’s, is a publicly-traded,
six-billion-dollar-per-year, Department of Defense supplier (DoD).
They have an exclusive contract with the U.S. Army to run the Lake City
Arsenal small arms ammunition manufacturing plant (reputed to be the
world’s largest) and to operate the Radford Arsenal, which is the
exclusive supplier of TNT.
Almost 80 percent of ATK revenue comes from supplying aerospace and
armament systems to the DoD, including rocket motors, rocket
propellant, missile motors and guidance systems and a host of other
super-sophisticated combat systems, including chain-guns for Apache
helicopters, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and STAR-wars satellite/space
systems.
Eighteen percent of ATK revenue comes from other DoD contracts,
subcontracts to other DoD contractors, sales of armament and combat
systems to foreign governments and, lastly, commercial products.
The undisclosed but obviously minimal revenue contribution from
commercial products includes ammunition contracts with the FBI,
Homeland Security, the Federal Firearms Training Center and state and
local police departments.
ATK’s three big commercial ammunition customers include WalMart,
Cabela’s and Gander Mountain. Sporting goods distributors are dead last.
It’s important to note that ATK’s minimal commercial revenues include sales of products sold under the following brand names:
Ammo - Federal, CCI, Speer, Blazer, Estate Cartridge.
Accessories - RCBS, Outers (including Hoppes), Champion, etc.
Optics - Weaver, Simmons, Redfield, Nitrex, Bushnell, etc.
If you combine all of the above brand-related revenues along with all
other commercial and sporting goods-related revenues, the total
contribution to revenues appears to be less than 10% of ATK’s total
business. Remember that this disclosure is for revenues, not profits.
Profits, of course, are a fraction of the revenues. Not a very big
number, for sure.
Why is the above important to shooting enthusiasts? Because, this
profile of ATK demonstrates how insignificant sporting goods revenue
contributions are to a major company like ATK, although they continue
to acquire familiar brands of sporting goods products. This relentless
acquisition and consolidation of brands within one corporate entity
like ATK dramatically reduces competition while providing for tightened
corporate control over price and availability of sporting goods
products. Retail buyers of firearms and ammunition-related products
find reduced choice, limited or no availability and rigidly controlled
but ascending pricing - not good.
Underlying this concentration of brand power under one entity like ATK
within such a vertically integrated market as in the case of
ammunition, for example, is the federal governments overwhelming
influence due to its massive eighty-to-ninety percent revenue
contribution overall. It is entirely conceivable to imagine that
government policy in one federal branch may quite easily be implemented
through another federal branch with ruthless efficiency.
For example, because all DoD suppliers must align their operations with
applicable government regulations, they become subject to audits, fines
and civil and criminal prosecution for a whole assortment of possible
shortfalls in compliance with those federal regulations. Can you not
imagine how influential the government is in this type of scenario? If
the Executive branch wanted ATK to stop selling ammunition to
civilians, how hard do you think it would be to get that message
across, loud and clear?
This government “clout” also applies to companies like Olin
(Winchester) and others because of their status as federal contractors
and, as a result, they become subject to the same audits, fines,
prosecutions, etc. Because the government is, in fact, the very largest
consumer of goods and services as well as being the exclusive regulator
of all manners of commerce, they have the absolute power to influence
the production, distribution and pricing of all goods and services
produced.
How does this affect you? In our increasingly regulated society, ATK
has recognized, as have the other ammunition makers, that future
revenue contributions from the sporting goods market matter less than
the revenue potential from supplying the government. Government sales
opportunities are plentiful for corporations which ‘play ball’ and ‘act
responsibly’, in the government’s view. It’s just common business sense
to accept that reality.
The popular Federal and Winchester brands already include broad
categories of ammunition designated specifically as “Law Enforcement”
products. These LE products are sold by the factories directly to large
federal, state and local agencies. Less significantly, these LE
products are sold through tightly-controlled “law enforcement”
distributors to the rest of the police and military-type markets,
namely very small municipalities and individual officers. Neither you
nor, your favorite gun dealer, can buy these products. Neither can the
previously-mentioned big direct retail customers like WalMart, Cabela’s
or Gander.
This restricted product availability is not the result of legislation
by the U.S. Congress or any state legislature nor, is it the result of
any judicial decision. This outright ban on sales of certain categories
of ammunition to the sporting public is the direct result of these
manufacturers ‘playing ball’ with and ‘currying the favor of’ agencies
of the United States government. Clearly and simply, these government
agencies, through various procurement specifications and contract
requirements, are implementing public policy via influence over
commercial activity as it pertains to the free markets rather than
through the legislative process which has proven to be time-consuming
and difficult as well as sometimes unpopular with voters. In simple
terms, if you want to ‘feed at the federal trough’ you’ll run your
business the way the feds want you to (and restrict certain ammunition
products from civilian availability). Or else, get ready for audits,
fines, prosecutions, contract cancelation and blacklisting for future
bidding. This is very real and extremely troubling.
Why is this important? Because the more you bury your head in the sand
and adopt an attitude of denial while chanting that it can’t happen
here, the preceding facts clearly demonstrate how easily it does happen
here and that it has been happening here for quite some time.
What can you do about it? Repeatedly write to your elected officials at
the local, state and federal levels of government and urge them to roll
back or hold back additional restrictions on firearms products.
Repeatedly write to the news directors and general managers at your
local television and radio stations and the editors of your local
newspapers and urge them to portray Second Amendment ‘Right-to-Carry”
issues more objectively.
Join the NRA. Actively participate in their organizational meets if
only as a spectator. Contribute to the NRA-ILA to help lobby for a more
sensible legislative and regulatory environment for firearms ownership.
And, finally, express yourself moderately, courteously and respectfully
when discussing responsible firearms ownership so as to bring respect
to firearms enthusiasts of all types.
It is happening here!
For quite some time there has been questions regarding "LEO" rounds.
What are they, is there a difference, can I buy them, and how can TDS sell them are just some of the questions I get everyday.
Far from the definitive thesis, here are some answers.
More often then not, the answer to what are they and is there a difference is that there is NO difference between something marked LEO and a box of rounds with no LEO markings.
The cases, primers, powders and bullet loads are often exactly the same. They come off the same machines.
Rarely does a manufacturer develop a product and then designate that it be sold only to what can best be described as the smallest market possible (LEO represents an incredibly small percentage of all ammunition sold in USA).
Factually the main difference is that LEO ammunition is sold in 50 round boxes and bears some Law Enforcement or Duty Ammo marking on that box.
For example Speer Gold Dot 23966 (230grn GDHP 45Auto) and 53966 (230grn GDHP 45Auto) have exactly the same ballistics according to Speer’s published charts, yet the 23966 is sold in 20 round boxes with no LEO markings while the 53966 is sold in 50 round boxes marked “Duty Ammunition”.
The first number (2 or 5) in the case of Speer indicates whether it is 20 or 50 rounds and therefore “civilian” or “duty” ammunition.
To answer the question “Can I buy them”, the simple answer is this – unless there is some state/city/municipality ruling prohibiting a particular bullet configuration or some reason for you to not possess ammunition – the answer is YES you can.
This whole separation from civilian and duty ammunition can according to some be traced back to the Black Talon ammunition that Winchester developed. The Black Talon is now the T Series (previously the SXT) ammunition sold under the Ranger moniker. The Black Talon became the stuff of Urban Legend and when Congress became involved, the round was withdrawn and redesigned, relabeled and reclassified. Next thing you know there was LEO and non-LEO ammo.
Federal, Remington, Speer (a division of Federal) and Winchester as well as others market LEO/Duty ammunition as well as other “types” of ammunition. Each have tried to put forth their version of a prohibition on the sale of “duty” branded ammunition. This seems primarily based on profitability than anything else.
Using the Speer GD example it’s easy to see the logic behind the prohibition.
23966 sells retail for $22 to $24 (20 rounds)
53966 sells retail for $28 to $30 (50 rounds)
Given the same percentage of markup it’s fairly clear that the profitability of the manufacturer lies with the 20 round boxes.
In regards to how TDS can sell these rounds – TDS is classified as a “Law Enforcement Dealer”. This means that our focus is on the LEO and Military community.
This allows us to purchase and resell items that fall into the LEO category.
We also sell to the general bullet buying populace.
We require ID/Credentials and have “Ammunition Statements” that must be completed before a purchase can be completed or discount applied.
To keep the manufacturers happy, TDS does not stock to sell the 50 round boxes to the general bullet buying public. Let me spell that out a bit further – TDS purchases 50 round boxes for sale to the Law Enforcement community. In the event that the agency that they were ordered for backs out of the sale this ammunition is considered fair game.
TDS also purchases from agencies ammunition that can be considered factory fresh (less than 6 months old), rounds obtained in this way are noted on the site.
Hopefully this helps answer some questions.
The truth about handgun knockdown power
By Commander Jeffry L. Johnson
Long Beach Police Dept., Detective Division
Special contributor to PoliceOne
There is undoubtedly no other myth more perpetuated and closely held (even now) by many law enforcement professionals than what I have previously referred to as the “Demonstrative Bullet Fallacy,” or in plainer terms, the idea that any handgun of any caliber has “knockdown power,” in that the sheer size and force of the bullet can knock a person down. Closely related is the myth that bullet size — rather than shot placement — can determine or ensure a “one shot stop.” Both are inaccurate, unscientific, and dangerous, and have no place in the training of law enforcement professionals.
Not that any of this is new information. This fact has been generally known for about six hundred years or so. Notable intellects such as DaVinci, Galileo, Newton, Francis Bacon, and Leonard Euler all studied physics and ballistics, as did many others. It was Newton’s research that led Benjamin Robbins to invent the ballistic pendulum in 1740 (the first device to measure bullet velocity).
There is no mystery here — the truth has been documented time and again. So how is it that we still don’t get it? One word: Hollywood.
Ever since Dirty Harry came along with his .44 Magnum hand-cannon, when someone gets shot in the movies or on TV (and don’t forget video games) two things happen: 1) the victim is thrown back convulsively, through windows, off balconies, etc. and 2) there will immediately emerge a geyser of blood spewing forth from the wound, leaving no doubt that this person has been shot, and pinpointing exactly where the bullet has struck.
Many firearm and shooting magazines picked up on the idea as well, discussing and propagating the pseudo-scientific idea of handgun “knockdown power” and “one shot stopping power.”
The Truth
The Federal Bureau of Investigation Firearms Training Unit published a concise yet insightful report that speaks directly to this issue of firearm wounding ballistics and the misconceptions that have surrounded this area.
These so called [knockdown power] studies are further promoted as being somehow better and more valid than the work being done by trained researchers, surgeons and forensic labs. They disparage laboratory stuff, claiming that the “street” is the real laboratory and their collection of results from the street is the real measure of caliber effectiveness, as interpreted by them, of course. Yet their data from the street is collected haphazardly, lacking scientific method and controls, with no noticeable attempt to verify the less than reliable accounts of the participants with actual investigative or forensic reports. Cases are subjectively selected (how many are not included because they do not fit the assumptions made?). The numbers of cases cited are statistically meaningless, and the underlying assumptions upon which the collection of information and its interpretation are based are themselves based on myths such as knockdown power, energy transfer, hydrostatic shock, or the temporary cavity methodology of flawed work such as RII. (1)
The truth is, the whole idea of handgun knockdown power is a myth. It simply doesn’t work that way. The FBI report further clarifies:
A bullet simply cannot knock a man down. If it had the energy to do so, then equal energy would be applied against the shooter and he too would be knocked down. This is simple physics, and has been known for hundreds of years. The amount of energy deposited in the body by a bullet is approximately equivalent to being hit with a baseball. Tissue damage is the only physical link to incapacitation within the desired time frame, i.e., instantaneously. (2)
The report cites previous studies that have calculated bullet velocities and impact power, concluding that the “stopping power” of a 9mm bullet at muzzle velocity is equal to a one-pound weight being dropped from the height of six feet. A .45 ACP (45 auto) bullet impact would equal that same object dropped from 11.4 feet. That is a far cry from what Hollywood would have us believe, and actually flies in the face of what even many in law enforcement have come to mistakenly believe.
The FBI report also emphasizes that unless the bullet destroys or damages the central nervous system (i.e., brain or upper spinal cord), incapacitation of the subject can take a long time, seemingly longer if one is engaged in a firefight.
Failing a hit to the central nervous system, massive bleeding from holes in the heart or major blood vessels of the torso, causing circulatory collapse is the only other way to force incapacitation upon an adversary, and this takes time. For example, there is sufficient oxygen within the brain to support full, voluntary action for 10-15 seconds after the heart has been destroyed. (3)
More often than not, an officer firing at a suspect will not immediately know if he or she has even struck the target. The physics are such that the body will rarely involuntarily move or jerk, and usually there is no noticeable spewing of blood or surface tearing of tissue. Often there is no blood whatsoever. (4) That is why military surgeons and emergency room physicians take great time and pains to carefully examine gunshot victims for any additional small holes. Often that is the only indication the person has been shot.
Personal Experience
But let’s be real here. I can cite numerous additional academic and scientific sources that support this article, but I know how cops think. We’re not always the most trustful of academics, especially when it comes to our street survival. So let me add my own personal experience to the data. Please allow me to go beyond the cold facts and share with you why I know what I’m telling you is the truth.
In the mid-1980s I was involved in my first shooting as a police officer. But to give the story context, I must go back to 1982 when I graduated from the Long Beach Police Academy. The first thing I was told by experienced training officers I trusted and looked up to, was to “get rid of that pea-shooter 38 they issued you and buy a real gun with some knockdown power!” Although we were issued .38 caliber revolvers, we were authorized to carry a number of different caliber weapons on duty, the largest of which was the 45 Long Colt.
Imagine my surprise when I was confronted by a suspect armed with a shotgun in a dark alley and my Long Colt didn’t live up to its billing. I fired five rounds at the suspect. It wasn’t until I fired my last shot — intentionally aimed at his head — that he went down. I can’t begin to relate to you the surprise and horror I felt when there was absolutely no outward indication I was hitting my target. It was the kind of situation cops have nightmares about.
What actually happened? I fired five rounds at a distance of about twelve feet. The first one missed completely. The second struck his upper leg and broke his femur. The third struck him in the shoulder/chest. The fourth round hit him dead center—in the heart. And of course, the fifth was a headshot. Three of the five rounds created fatal wounds, though only one had immediate results.
Needless to say, I was pretty shaken by the whole thing. Not by the morality of what I’d done; the suspect had already fired at a bystander and taken a hostage earlier. He was also high on PCP. That wasn’t my inner struggle. What shook me was how unprepared I felt; how totally off guard I was taken by what occurred. No one ever told me it would be like that. The reality was contrary to everything I thought I knew about deadly force.
That experience more than any research or study is the reason is why I am writing this article. Police officers risk getting into shootings every day; we need to know the dynamics of how a shooting incident may unfold. It will affect our equipment, tactics, and most important, our mindset. We need to know that rarely will one shot incapacitate an assailant. We further need to be able to explain this when our fellow officers are involved in shootings where multiple shots are fired. The public honestly believes it’s like the movies. Why would we ever need to fire twenty or thirty rounds to subdue an armed suspect? Problem is we can’t teach it or explain it until we understand it ourselves. (5)
Footnotes:
1. Patrick, Urey W., Federal Bureau of Investigation, Firearms Training Unit, “Handgun Wounding Factors and Effectiveness,” p.13. (1989).
2. Ibid., p.9.
3. Ibid., p. 8.
4. Newgard, Ken, MD, “The Physiological Effects of Handgun Bullets: The Mechanisms of Wounding and Incapacitation” (1992).
5. For you visual learners still unconvinced, I highly recommend viewing the Discovery Channel MythBusters segment, “Blown Away,” (Brown Note Episode, Second Season), where the knockdown power myth is visually and scientifically debunked once and for all.
3/28/08
I got a phone call the other day.The guy on the other end identified himself, “Hello this is ****** from Winchester USA, how are you today?.”I replied “Win Who”?
Of course I had to explain it to him after all not everyone appreciates my sarcasm.As I explained to him we who carry and rely on weapons loaded with Winchester ammo are less than thrilled with the turtles pace at which his company is striving to supply us.
I expressed to him in no uncertain terms just how ridiculous it is that one of the oldest and largest ammunition manufacturer (ATK is the largest and Remington the oldest) is now on the verge of becoming a footnote.
I related the numerous stories of departments nationwide actually rationing ammunition.NOPD during Mardi Gras fielded their officers with a loaded magazine in their duty weapon and one loaded in the belt.The other mags were EMPTY.
For the first time in recorder history departments nationwide reported often receiving “no bids” when the required ammunition was Winchester Ranger – its impossible to bid when you cant guarantee the price or even guess at when it will be available.
Department after department are having no choice but to switch their duty ammo to avoid going without.
After I realized I was damn near yelling and foaming at the mouth a bit, I paused.
After a long silence the voice of Winchester apologized and began to explain.“You do realize that Winchester has commitments to the Military……………..”He never got to finish that one cause I erupted again.
“So do you mean to tell me that you’ve converted the line that makes RA380T or RA40T to produce 5.56?”Almost chuckling he told me no.I then asked if Winchester had taken the folks that run and monitor those lines and moved them over to the 5.56 lines.Again the answer was no.
So let me understand this, I blurted out.Winchester hasn’t taken down any lines, hasn’t lost folks to other efforts, but yet cant supply what they always did for years?
What ensued was a speech about redesign and efforts to supply the LEO market with the best quality and advanced round available.
“Have you seen the article about the new design in Handgun magazine?”Yep and all that did was fire up more frustration after all here is this truley awesome round that is apparently available to gun rag writers (maybe I should request numerous case for an article Im writing?)
So when can I expect the new and improved RA45T?Again long silence and then “I’m not prepared or able to discuss production schedules.”I asked how I apply for Production Scheduler at Winchester!
Im still calling my multiple distributors every week checking to see if the largest Law Enforcement distributors in the US have received anything at all.Im still hearing growing backorder numbers – would you believe there is a backorder at one distributor of 50,000 cases of RA45T!
I hope they get their heads pulled out soon, those guys at WinWho………………….
Those of us who carry the Winchester Ranger T series rounds have long been scratching our heads wondering WTF they were thinking when they adopted the insane production schedule. The same schedule that has resulted in an unprecidented backorder/shortage.
We've asked and asked. Not once been given a decent answer, until now. Tucked away on the Winchester website (posted this month (November) is a "Press Release" that provides some answer:
Seems that our friends at Winchester are not behind because of the war, the cost of material, demand outpacing tooling, and all of the other reasons we've heard over the last year. Seems that on a "rolling schedule" Winchester is making "design enhancements". Thanks Guys - Im sure we all appreciate the efforts!
FYI the "rolling schedule" has the RA45T and RA45TP rolling off the line in................ Ready for this? J U N E!!
Oh well at least Federal is shipping the HST series DAILY!
… to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed.
I don’t carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m paranoid. I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m evil. I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.
I don’t carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m angry. I carry a gun so that I don’t have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.
I don’t carry a gun because my sex organs are too small. I carry a gun because I want to continue to use those sex organs for the purpose for which they were intended for a good long time to come.
I don’t carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.
I don’t carry a gun because I’m a cowboy. I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a cowboy.
I don’t carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.
I don’t carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.
I don’t carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.
Time to get ready for the next big fight!
Head over to GOOGLE and type in "microstamping ammunition". You'll be quite amazed as I was.
If you think about it all for a minute, how much sense does this make? I grew up in Arizona where "vatos" were field stripping AK's with the bandanna over their eyes faster than any Marine ever could. Dont tell me they cant drop a new pin in the ole "gat" and be rolling with the homies.
Microstamping calls the shots
By Douglas Page
A revolutionary gun identification technology finds favor and foes
A 14-year-old boy and his 18-year-old brother are shot and killed in a mini-mart down the street from their home. Police find four shell casings in the parking lot, but no leads.
A man driving home from work is summoned to the side of the road by a woman apparently needing help. After he stops, he discovers the trap. Two men attempt to rob him. When he runs, they shoot him. He dies. Three shell casings are found, but no leads.
These incidents are neither hypothetical nor isolated. And it is unlikely the killers will ever be apprehended. No arrests are ever made in 45 percent of homicides in California, leaving criminals to roam free, to put other citizens and police at risk.
California lawmakers have had enough. On October 13, 2007, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law Assembly Bill 1471 (AB 1471). The legislation, authored by California Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), implements revolutionary microstamping technology in California, making it the first state in the nation to mandate its use. The bill requires that all semi-automatic handguns purchased in California, beginning in 2010, have the ability to imprint identifying information on cartridges fired by the weapon — turning spent cartridges into potential evidence in civil and criminal cases.
Next-generation ballistics
The fledgling microstamping technology, considered by some the next generation in ballistics information, is a relatively recent development that utilizes lasers to make distinct microscopic engravings on the breech face and firing pin of a gun. As the gun is fired, the weapon's serial number is stamped onto the cartridge, giving police some chance of determining from which weapon the shell was fired. The data can be imprinted on casings in two different locations to maximize law enforcement's ability to trace the weapon used in a crime. Police would not need to recover the crime weapon itself.
Microstamping differs from conventional ballistic "fingerprinting," which results from extreme pressures present in the chamber of a firearm during firing that transfer any markings present in the chamber to the cartridge. Forensic ballistic experts have long used this peculiarity to associate a cartridge case with the firearm that fired it.
In the microstamping method most commonly proposed, microstamping would use microscopic engravings on the firing pin to record make, model and serial number data on the cartridge primer — useful when trying to match a gun to casings found at the crime scene. The technique marks the replaceable primer rather than the reusable case, since each time a case is reloaded the new primer supplies a fresh writing surface upon which the data can be imprinted.
"The technology should be enacted," notes author Britt Minshall. "I see it as an excellent method to help law enforcement connect victims to killers."
Minshall, a former U.S. Deputy Marshall and Interpol agent, says this technology is totally non-intrusive and fundamentally useless unless a registered shell ends up next to a dead body.
Microstamping technology, invented and patented by Todd Lizotte and presently owned by a company he founded called NanoMark, a division of ID Dynamics of Seattle, Washington, recently completed a series of tests of the microstamping process that the company says validates the new technology.
Feasible but flawed
The NanoMark tests were conducted in response to a May 3 University of California (UC)-Davis study in which researcher Michael Beddow concluded that microstamping is "feasible, but flawed." Beddow, a graduate student, performed the study as a master's thesis under Fred Tulleners, director of the forensics program at UC-Davis. Tulleners was formerly director of the California Department of Justice crime lab in Sacramento, as well as the Sacramento and Santa Rosa county crime labs. A university press release covering the study stated that microstamping "does not work well for all guns and ammunition tested" and required "more testing to determine the costs and feasibility of a statewide program."
The goal of the NanoMark tests was to rehabilitate microstamping's image by rectifying what NanoMark believed were Beddow's skewed observations. The company tested a Smith & Wesson Model 4006 40-caliber semi-automatic handgun that was outfitted with microstamping technology using ID Dynamics' optimization protocol. This firearm was tested with more than 2,500 rounds, using five different brands of ammunition.
The company concluded that the optimized S&W 4006 firing-pin impression was exceptionally repeatable and marked the primer of the cartridge with a transfer rate of 100 percent, with all eight digits of the gun's serial number legible 97 percent of the time using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Even multiple hit primers — a condition that manifests itself during very fast consecutive firing — were still legible by using electron microscopy imaging methods.
Breech face marks, designed to provide an auxiliary source for forming the code if the firing pin is defaced or replaced, provided further opportunities to compile all eight digits. These marks transferred 96 percent of the time.
The company reports the tests confirm that a firearm outfitted with microstamping technology is more than capable of producing codes onto cartridges. According to a 2000 study by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, semi-automatic handguns have an average time-to-crime range of 1.6 to 6.4 years, which means these guns are frequently recovered after firing fewer than 500 rounds. The NanoMark test involved five times that volume of cartridges and still enjoyed acceptable transfer rates.
Interestingly, before the NanoMark tests were performed, several of Beddow's assertions were almost immediately rebutted by his own university president, UC-Davis Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef. In a May 15 letter to Feuer, Vanderhoef apologized for complicating rather than elucidating the issue, saying Beddow had conducted his analysis using non-optimized firing pins and vintage firearms that had never been considered for testing because of their model age (which ranged from 10 years to over 50 years) and inconsistent mechanical condition. Beddow tested firing pins from six different brands of semi-automatic handguns, two semi-automatic rifles, and a shotgun.
The chancellor noted there were other problems with the study. Vanderhoef says Beddow's study had not been peer reviewed, was not commissioned by the state legislature, and drew false conclusions regarding AB 1471, which calls for microstamping of only new models of semi-automatic handguns. Vanderhoef's letter to Feuer came just before AB 1471 passed the Assembly in September.
Black market fears
Microstamping critics are not impressed. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) says, "AB 1471 fails to recognize the unfortunate reality that mandating the technology for firearms sold each year in the state of California will create an illegal black market for 'non-laser engraved' firearms and further increase illegal, interstate firearm trafficking."
According to the NSSF, the new law also fails to consider the tens of millions of firearms in circulation that have not been, and cannot now be, micro-laser engraved. There are also far more firearms stolen each year in this country (approximately 500,000, or nearly one every minute), than there are violent crimes committed each year with firearms.
"It is an unfortunate reality, but criminals modify their behaviors and will always find ways to obtain firearms," says NSSF spokesperson Ted Novin.
The microstamp is only 15- to 25-microns deep — one micron is 1,000th of a millimeter — and critics say it is easily rubbed off with household tools. There is also concern that active gun hobbyists, who must replace their firing pins frequently, will get caught in a potential logistical nightmare, as well as face additional costs.
The NSSF speculates the California microstamping law could also affect the cost of guns in markets elsewhere because firearms for commercial, law enforcement and military markets are all manufactured at the same time by the same process at the same plant. Since companies do not have law enforcement-only production lines and do not have California-only production lines, costs would have to be spread across all products in all markets, resulting in significantly higher prices for all products.
The NSSF believes the price of firearms for all consumers, including municipalities purchasing firearms for law enforcement agencies, will increase dramatically. Some estimates run as high as $50 to $100 per firearm.
Tulleners, however, estimates that setting up a facility to engrave the firing pins of every handgun sold in California would cost approximately $8 per firing pin the first year, falling to under $2 per firing pin in subsequent years.
Law and no order
There also may be lurking legal issues with microstamping. Novin says even with microstamping technology laws, like AB 1471, the technology has limited value.
"As with ballistics imaging, there is a serious chain-of-custody problem that renders any information derived from the technology essentially worthless from an evidentiary point of view," he notes.
The California National Rifle Association (NRA) Members' Councils reported on its Web site, during the debate on AB 352 (the Assembly's 2006 attempt at a microstamping law), that microstamping could even create false evidence trails. Their fear was that microstamped cartridge cases fired and abandoned at any police or public firing range could be gathered and used to seed crime scenes with false evidence, implicating innocent law enforcement officers and citizens in crimes they had nothing to do with.
California Assemblyman Paul Koretz, author of AB 352, says the whole idea of microstamping is to give law enforcement a new tool to track both killers and unscrupulous gun dealers.
"The idea was never that someone would be convicted solely on the basis of the microstamp," said he stresses.
War soaks up bullets; police feel shortage SHIPMENTS DELAYED, PRICES INCREASING
By Rodney Foo
Mercury News
Police departments in the South Bay and around the country are encountering a nagging side effect from the U.S. military's long overseas missions: It's getting more difficult to obtain bullets.
The shortage, also being fueled by an unprecedented rise in the price of raw materials, is not so severe that local law enforcement agencies risk running out of bullets. But departments in Santa Clara County have agreed to share ammo if any of them runs low.
From California to Florida, police range masters say they are seeing ammunition shipments that once took only 45 days to arrive now take four to six months.
"It has become a nightmare," said Sgt. Don Moore, San Jose police range master.
To cope with the delays, police have been increasing their ammunition orders, replenishing storerooms to the limit. In January, the San Jose budget office disclosed to city council members that police were seeking an extra $44,000 to buy ammunition. In the fiscal year 2005-06, police spent $199,000 for bullets.
In the past six months, the department has used about 600,000 rounds in training and in marksmanship qualification tests; police rarely fire their guns in the field.
The ammunition shortages stem from a new reality in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, era: The U.S. military is firing its weapons at a breakneck pace.
Big changes
When Alliant Techsystems - the parent company of Federal, the nation's largest small-caliber ammunition manufacturer - was contracted to operate the Department of Defense's Lake City, Mo., Army ammunition plant more than five years ago, it was churning out 350 million rounds annually.
How things have changed: From March 2005 to March 2006, about 1.3 billion rounds were made at the plant, said Alliant Tech spokesman Bryce Hallowell.
And according to February budget documents, the Army proposed to contract for an additional 300 million rounds from commercial manufacturers.
The military's need for more ammo, especially .223 Remington and 9mm cartridges, puts it in direct competition with police departments. San Jose's special weapons and tactics teams use the high velocity, flat trajectory .223 rounds in their carbines. Most San Jose officers use 9mm-caliber semiautomatic guns with clips that carry 15 to 17 rounds.
But when it comes to ammunition orders, Uncle Sam is first in line, industry officials say. "If something comes down, the military ammunition is always going to get first call," said Eddie Stevenson, a spokesman for Remington, the Madison, N.C.-based gun and ammo manufacturer.
Peter Arment, a defense industry analyst for Rhode Island-based JSA Research Inc., said the military has "absorbed a lot of the capacity in the industry, and the industry has been trying to bring more capacity on line but not on as rapid a pace that is needed."
Combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan account for some of the increase. But the rise also stems from the Army's post-Sept. 11 emphasis on improving marksmanship. Arment estimates that 90 percent of the Army's ammo is fired during training.
With a tight domestic market, Moore said some ammunition distributors are purchasing foreign-made ammo and passing the increased cost - additional shipping and import fees - on to customers.
Prices increasing
During the past 2 1/2 years, as demand for copper and brass have surged in China and India, prices for the metals, which are used to make bullet jackets and casings, have almost quadrupled. The main component of most bullets is lead, and its price has doubled. The cost of tungsten, a component of armor-piercing bullets, has tripled.
No matter what, all that's certain is the cost of small-caliber ammo will rise as the worldwide demand for raw materials rises.
"All we've been told is the price will go up," San Diego police range master Ralph Garcia said. "We don't know how much."
Manufacturers say there is no shortage of ammo on the domestic market but acknowledge that military demand has made some calibers harder to find.
"The war is having some effect in a few calibers we do manufacture - not all calibers," said Ann Pipkin, a spokeswoman for Olin Corp., which produces Winchester Ammunition.
Pipkin cited the .223 Remington, used in M-16s, the Army's primary infantry rifle, as one of the calibers affected. The Tulsa, Okla., police department has also experienced delays in ammo shipments. Orders that took 30 to 45 days to fill now take about three to four months, said officer Jason Willingham, a department spokesman.
"It is a concern as of right now, but it has not affected operations," Willingham said. Miami Police Department spokeswoman officer Martha Carbana reported similar delays in getting ammo shipments. "It's not an immediate problem for us, but there is a delay where normally that wait didn't exist," Carbana said.
Over at the Milpitas Shooting Range Target Masters West, owner Bill Heskett said he's experienced about five delays in ammunition shipments the last three years, but he said, "It's no big deal." "Sometimes it's specific manufacturers," he said. "I know the war in Iraq has sucked up a lot of ammo."
Heskett used to keep a two-week inventory, but now he tries to keep a month's supply on hand to tide him over when deliveries are uncertain.
Need to stay sharp
The impact on San Jose officers has been negligible, officials say. However, target ammo is a staple for all officers - including the chief - who have to pass mandated marksmanship tests every six months. So they need to stay sharp by practicing. But no matter how difficult it has been to obtain ammo, none of the departments contacted begrudged the Army from getting first in line for bullets. "I want our military guys to have all the ammo they need," Moore said. "They're in a fight every day of their lives."
Most of us carry our weapons (lets not mince words they are weapons) regularly. We take the classes and spend hours on the range. We take for granted the right to defend ourselves, some of us even believe the law and training will be with us if the worst happens. I too fell into this category. I no longer do.
I will still carry, still attend classes, still send rounds downrange, but I will NEVER believe that the law and the truth will set me free.
Every week I watch shows like 20/20 and 48 Hours where repeatedly I find myself damn near screaming at the moronic of juries/judges who see fit to disregard common sense and often clear evidence (or lack thereof) and sentence folks to prison. I've been outraged but found myself quickly calming down because I know that I will likely never find myself accused of killing my wife or the like. However, I just finished watching an episode that promises to effect not only myself for quite some time but all those who own weapons for defense.
I'm talking about, mad as hell about, as my son would say "disturbed" about Harold Fish.
Mr. Fish a retired teacher from my home state of Arizona is now spending time in prison for following almost to the letter the training we all have received.
I have found article after article regarding this case and cannot for the life of me see that Harold Fish did anything wrong. I am of the opinion that if this is allowed to stand WE ALL are in for it should the SHTF.
Time to get involved - all of us. Common sense and a belief in Truth, Justice and the American Way is becoming just a phrase from Superman.
Here's the link to his defense fund site. I encourage you to do a google search and read up on this case. It could be you next. Harold Fish
February 19, 2007
New York Times
Making Martial Law Easier
A disturbing recent phenomenon in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy have been passed in the dead of night.
So it was with a provision quietly tucked into the enormous defense budget bill at the Bush administration’s behest that makes it easier for a president to override local control of law enforcement and declare martial law. The provision, signed into law in October, weakens two obscure but important bulwarks of liberty. One is the doctrine that bars military forces, including a federalized National Guard, from engaging in law enforcement.
Called posse comitatus, it was enshrined in law after the Civil War to preserve the line between civil government and the military. The other is the Insurrection Act of 1807, which provides the major exemptions to posse comitatus. It essentially limits a president’s use of the military in law enforcement to putting down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion, where a state is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional rights.
The newly enacted provisions upset this careful balance. They shift the focus from making sure that federal laws are enforced to restoring public order. Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the president may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or to any “other condition.” Changes of this magnitude should be made only after a thorough public airing. But these new presidential powers were slipped into the law without hearings or public debate.
The president made no mention of the changes when he signed the measure, and neither the White House nor Congress consulted in advance with the nation’s governors.
There is a bipartisan bill, introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, and Christopher Bond, Republican of Missouri, and backed unanimously by the nation’s governors, that would repeal the stealthy revisions. Congress should pass it.
If changes of this kind are proposed in the future, they must get a full and open debate.
Before you check out this video, a little bit of a back story is in order. The band is called Stuck Mojo, a hard rocking southern band. The song is called Open Season and although it reflects the views of many, it has spawned a Jihad of its own.
Deemed as racist, anti Islamic, an affront to Muslims worldwide by a group called CAIR Council of American Islamic Relations who put Stuck Mojo, a rock band on the hit list.
Judge for yourself
My Response to CAIR’s Misrepresentation of "Open Season"
by Rich Ward
As many of you know, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has attacked Stuck Mojo by falsely claming that “Open Season” advocates violence against all Muslims. This is patently false. Any rational, unbiased person who reads the lyrics to the song (copied below) can clearly see that the song purely advocates a defensive posture against violent, global Jihadists.
You can read the full story at Little Green Footballs here: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=23903_CAIR_Slams_Boxer_Stuck_Mojo
The registration at LGF has been closed for some time. With that in mind would someone here on this board, who is also a member of LGF, please pass along my appreciation for the support that the LGF community has shown us.
We never considered for a second that this video would generate such newsworthy attention. The simple fact is that we are currently in a global war against an ideology whose principle objective to transform the world into an Islamic state. Those who resist are to be converted or killed. And, while we have no interest in pursuing a “holy war,” we refuse to take no action in response if such a war is brought to our doorstep. Are all Muslims Jihadists? Of course not. Are virtually all Jihadists Muslims, absolutely. You can make of this what you will.
The message of “Open Season,” and Stuck Mojo in general, is very clear:
“We reject your war of fear and we are prepared to engage you defensively and decisively if your Jihad threatens our neighborhoods and communities.”
This should not be controversial. Yet CAIR and others seem to think that it is. What person would not defend themselves and their family against an enemy who violently threatens their life, liberty or pursuit of happiness?
We believe in and stand by the message of “Open Season” and find it shocking and disappointing that anyone in the Muslim community would find this video offensive; even more so for those in a leadership position within that community. Their condemnation of the anti-Jihadist message of “Open Season” is a clear indication of where their true loyalties reside.
Thanks to everyone who has supported Stuck Mojo during this time. Your comments and feedback from around the world has shown us that we are not alone in recognizing the reality of the world we now live in. And extra special thanks to those who have shown their support with their wallets and purchased a copy of the CD despite the album being made available free for download. After years of being a lone voice in the left-leaning music business, it has been great to see that the people will directly support a band whose message hits home.
Apparently Jihad works both ways. Soon a remix of the video was posted and is making its way into the hands and conciousness of America. Not for the meek - based in truth - its open season.....................
… to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed. 
