I should note, this is the third time I've typed that sentence, because the unique combination of FireFox and Blogger decided to die horribly the first two times. This time I was smart enough to write this damn thing in a text editor.
And thus the first announcement of this carnival, I'm going to be moving The AnarchAngel off of blogspot over the next few weeks. Thanks to PixyMisa, Jim, and Guy S for getting me over to MuNuvia. I'm working on getting my template converted over from Bloggers crackheaded css to a real .css stylesheet for MT.
Anyweay, the point is, this will be the first bit of original content posted at both anarchangel.blogspot.com and anarchangel.mu.nu (I've already imported the archvies). So Yay.
So, this being the 50th edition, Gullyborg had the cracking good suggestion that we try and make thhis a .50 cal special edition. Cracking good idea indeed, unfortunately there jsut aren't all that many folks with good .50 cal blog entries to submit; and we managed to get about three of them (actually we got five, but two were older posts that had been linked before).
They shall of course recieve pride of place, and thus be presented in all their glory:
First, Jay G of Toys in the Attic puts things into perspective
At the harvard sportsmans club. Think of the horror the faculty magazine must be expressing over such evil terrorist weapons being shot at a Harvard facility.
Oh and from the opposite end of the caliber spectrum, he also tells us about his New .22
Amazing the man writes so much good gunny stuff, while living in the blighted commonpoverty of taxachusetts (full disclosure, I hail from said commonpoverty - but I left as soon as possible).
Meanwhile, the Mad Hatter has graphical demonstrations of the recoil and muzzleblast provided by our largest non-destructive device chamberings, in both rifle and pistol variants.
While Alan of Blogonomicon brings us yet another installment of "The guns of...", this time focusing on the Anime series Hellsing, whose chief anti-hero
A custom 13mm pistol. Of course 13mm is just a tiny bit above .50cal (12.7mm), but hey, we'll make an exception.
Besides, Alucard Kicks Ass
On to the non-50-caliber portion of this carnival, comrpising the ever so vast majority of the postings; because althrough we didn't get a lot of .50 cal postings, we certainly got well over 50 submissions (great for content, bad for timely presentation).
Some folks (including myself) decided that since this was our 50th, they'd celebrating by giving us four or five great posts, so let's go through them.
First, Countertop gives us his well titled "Gun Free DC" series
Gun Free DC - Part 1
Gun Free DC - Part 2
and "Only Cops Should Have Guns" series, in which he particularly highlights the clear case of second degree murder of Aaron Brown by an off duty cop who decided to play superman.
Only Cops Should Have Guns - Part 1
Only Cops Should Have Guns - Part 2
Only Cops Should Have Guns - Part 2 Updated
I have said it before, when the lawful representatives of the state excercise legitmate authority, they are protected under the law and by the full force of the state. When those agents act with no authority, or illegitmate authority, they are no longer granted the protection of the cloak of state. This cop clearly decided he was going to be supercop to stop a couple of kids from running out on a bill (which it turns out the weren't doing anyway), he jumps in front of a moving SUV, and he starts shooting.
Idiot.
If you or I did this as a CCW holder, we'd quite rightly be in jail today; which is where this soon to be former officer belongs.
Well, now that he's managed to get us all riled up, the complete one cools us off with this spectacular news:
"Hope Kim's been saving, cause this ones gonna cost him a WHOLE LOTTA AMMO . . . .Damn skippy bubba, you should be proud indeed.
Ended up taking two guys from work out to the NRA Range tonight. Lets call them M&M.
M1, who is mid 30s, grew up in Michigan and just doesn't think about guns much. Not for or against, they just aren't his thing. In fact, the only time he picked a gun up ever was to shoot a round of trap with some relatives when he was about 15 years old. Politically, he is pretty much middle of the road.
M2 is in his early 20s. He is a staff assistant in my office, just out of the University of California system. He grew up in San Francisco (well, in Marin County). He was shocked to find out I had guns when he first met me, and just didn't understand why people needed them. His moms a doctor in San Francisco and to say he was a pinko would be an understatement.
...
So far so good, right? Right. But it gets better.
As we are washing up, they ask when we can do this again. And, when can we shoot skeet. And, where can they go to get guns of their own. So, I proceed to take them to the "For Sale" bulletin board. Don't know about M1, but M2 was ready to buy a Springfield 1911 right then and there, but for one problem. He lives in DC.
This injustice, of course, was driven home even further when I noticed M2 had taken a variety of cartridges with him - for momentos, he said. I of course had no problem, but did feel obligated to tell him ammo - even empty cases - were banned in DC and each cartridge was a separate 5 year sentence.
He asked, How Can They Ban Ammo? What About The Second Amendment?
No more to say. I believe I have done all I can be expected to do. And I am very proud of the result."
Next up, Xavier tickles our fancy with a pair of factory custom shop 1911's one new, one old
The old, is a post factory customized facotry custom. It started life as Col'ts top of the line Gold Cup National Match.
And was then run through the Gunsite custom shop; which depending on when he got it may have been done by my smith Ted Yost. A lovely piece indeed.
The New gun is one of the performance center SW1911 models (all but the basic models are perf. center prepped whteher they say so or not - or at least they were up until last year; if they've changed since, somebody let me know); and I know from experience how excellent they are.
The worst part? He seems to have stolen it for $400. Bastard.
And finally Xavier lets us in on how to lubricate our pistols, to keep them looking and functioning that good.
Now on to Mr. Completely competition reports and announcements:
CWSA Steel Challenge practice
CWSA Pin Shooting Report
E-Postal Match #5 Results
Rimfire Roundup #4
Boeing Employees Rifle and Pistol Club meeting report
E-Postal Pistol match announcement - Vortex
E-Postal Rifle match announcement - "Tight Groups"
Oh and congratulations to Mr. Completely for so thoroughly dominating me (and everyone else) in the Gunny awards that Countertop was so kind as to conduct last month.
We were both nominated for Most Educational, and I came in second... distant second. He also won in the "best range reports" category, and he took home "The Best Master Gunny" prize, beating his nearest competitor by more votes than they recieved in total.
The south park pundit moves it on the curmudgeonly tip, because his first time gun buyer friend can't seem to get any good advice from gun shop staff.
Ever been in the gun shop and thought to yourself "Wow, this guy is probably actively damaging the shooting hobby/industry with every word he speaks?
Yeah, I thought so.
He follows this up with a confession: He's spreading the gun bug as actively and recklessly as he can; this time extolling the virtues of a Kimber Custom CDPII, when he intended jsut to spend a few hundred.
Oh yeah man, I've been there. We've ALL been there.
He continues the ranting with this tid-bit on the newest Ugly Ass Gun...
even worse, this one is from Wilson Combat Oh how the mighty have gotten stupid. Why on earth does everyone need to make a frikken glockalike?
Thankfully, not quite everyone has joing the glockalike game, and SIG is poised to have their best year ever, at least for new model introductions. First the new 229DAK, then the civvy 556, a Single Action only (with condition 1 capable safety, a first for a sig carry pistol) P220, and now a serious High Speed Low Drag version of the 226 customized for IPSC competition.
Yeah, I'm droolin right now. I'd take jsut about the entire SIG product line thankyouverymuch.
Finally, he finishes up with a Range Report, and some questions about what to do with his AR.
Which brings up my frist post for this carnival, The AR Kit:
"I've said before, I love the AR family, for it's accuracy, it's ease of shooting, and it's modularity. You can build the AR in jsut about every configuration known to man, then strip it down and change it again with few if any tools, and in just minutes.I recently had my blogiversary, and in preparation for that I assembled a Personal Best of Me Symphony, collecting all my best gun posts for the last year.
Naturally, this tends towards the building of "gun kits", where you have a set of various parts in a single case, and you combine them as desired for the task at hand, be it short range room to room; or long range varminting."
Now, last year I wrote some pretty long posts; but none of them even comes close to this monster: 8736 words on Getting Serious About Home Defense.
"Let's talk about home defense as a whole, not just house guns. Guns are a very small (but important) component of your entire home defense; and their relative importance is tiny in comparison to the mental components.Honestly I tried to cut it, but it's actually too abbreviated as it is. The subject is so big, I could just barely hit the high spots in the length I used. For you impatient buggers out there (and honestly, I don't blame you on this one), ChuBlogga gives the cliff notes version.
The first thing I want to talk about is preparation. I always say, the only thing more useless than an unloaded weapon, is an unprepared mind.
You need to make a searching moral inventory of yourself. Are you prepared to defend yourself and your family against an intruder? Are you prepared to use lethal force in doing so?
If not, stop right now; because loaded guns in your house are more a danger to you, and those around you, than they are protection."
Speaing of thosands of words, Michael Bane brags on his new holster, and I think this picture ought to be worth 10 thousand...
Straight Pimpin from the TV Star, awww yeahhhhh. I'm not sure if these are as cool as the flame job on that holster, but Mr. Bane shows us two very different .44 Specials.
Huh, think maybe he likes the color red?
I dunno, I dig the flame job, but I'm kinda crushin on Josh Poulsons Pimp Gun here
Bane finishes up his hat trick with an ode to one of the greatest shooters of all time, Multi Olympic gold medalist Kim Rhode. I don't know if you've ever met any olympic shooters (I have), but what they can do is absolutely unnatural. Even better, she's an attractive well spoken woman, who's dedicated to spreading the shooting sports. We need more like her.
Wadcutter completes his series on falling bullets:
Falling Bullets Part I
Falling Bullets Part II
Falling Bullets Pat III
The final triple-or-more post contributor; El Capitan from Baboon Pirates gives us three jewels of wisdom:
A Charlie Fox Gunshow Report, from which he at least managed to extract this piece:
Giving me SERIOUS K31 Envy, yet again (the last time was looking at Kris Barrets magnificently refinished model at Kim DuToits place after the RWVA shoot last october. I don't know any other hobbyist who does a better job refinishing gun stocks than KB).
For his thrid act the cap' opens up a can of rhetorical whoopass on the pansies continuously whining about the various castle doctrine laws recently introduced (and mostly successfully passed) around the country.
Moving on to the rest of the less prolific pack, Xyba of "Into the Breach" posts on his, and his wifes, Winchester '94s; which of course will sadly no longer be produced in the United States, if at all
I doubt they'll stay completley out of production for long; the clone market will be too profitable and FNH will tray and steal it back.
Ronocracy notes that FEMA is missing the boat yet again, because of course they include NO firearms in their disaster preparedness list. I think Katrnia proved for all time the necessity of arming ones self in a disaster situation.
Our favorite Book, Bike and Boom Stick Enthusiast Tam writes on how the sci-fi guns she thought were so cool as a kid
Are actually here today, only not in the form we expected
Soccer dad writes on the religious jsutification for lethal defense of ones home.
RG Combs writes on the foolishness of attempting to be a Neutral Civilian in a combat zone; coming up against fanatics.
The FuggerNutter writes an excellent post on Youth and Guns.
Denise, another well spoken female gun nut (can I say once again, we need more of them) writed on Why She Collects Guns.
Speaking of female gun nuts, our final individual post is a lovely little link from SondraK and the TerpsBoy (warning video - safe for work)
And finally, two announcements of some import:
Join the RWVA on Saturday, March 11, as they celebrate UN Appreciation Day in a traditional American way -- with rapid-fire pop-up targets and other fun. All UN personnel and IANSA members admitted FREE!
and someone has finally decided to do something about the abuse and violations of civil and constitutional rights that the Kings County, Queens County, New York County, and Bergin County district attorneys offices have been piling on law abiding gun owners traveling through the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey facilities.
I will quote the entire press release here:
ANJRPC SUES NY/NJ PORT AUTHORITY FOR JAILING HONEST GUN OWNER
February 27, 2006 - The Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Inc. (ANJRPC) announced that it has commenced a lawsuit against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and one of its police officers for wrongfully arresting and imprisoning for nearly five days a 57-year old Utah man delayed at Newark Airport by a baggage error while traveling from Utah to Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit seeks more than $3 million in damages for civil rights violations and a permanent injunction forcing the Port Authority to follow Federal law on interstate transport of locked, unloaded firearms that have been secured in luggage and declared by law-abiding citizens.
The Utah man, Gregg Revell, a real estate broker and family man with no criminal record and a Utah firearms permit, was flying alone from Salt Lake City, UT to Allentown, PA to retrieve a car he bought and drive it home. He was travelling with a firearm for personal protection. As required by Federal law, the firearm was unloaded, cased, locked and inside his luggage when he declared it at check-in in Salt Lake City on March 31, 2005.
Due to an airline-caused baggage error, Mr. Revell missed his connection from Newark to Allentown and had to stay overnight in New Jersey. When he checked in at Newark Airport the next morning to complete his travels, he again declared his firearm, as required by FAA regulations. He was then arrested for possession of a firearm without a New Jersey state license, and imprisoned in Essex County jail for five days until his family arranged bail, which had been initially set unusually high at $15,000 cash (no bond).
But Mr. Revell’s travels were protected by the Firearms Owner Protection Act, a Federal law passed in 1986 to protect law-abiding citizens who travel with firearms. (See 18 U.S.C. § 926A.) That law trumps state and local gun laws and protects interstate travel with firearms under certain circumstances, all of which were present in Mr. Revell’s case. Several months after the arrest, all charges were withdrawn and the prosecutor’s case administratively dismissed.
"The Port Authority blatantly violated Federal law when it arrested Gregg Revell," said Scott Bach, President of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs and a member of the NRA Board of Directors. "Those charged with enforcing the law have a special responsibility to follow it themselves," Bach continued. "Mr. Revell’s arrest is part of a pattern of similar misconduct by the Port Authority throughout the New York-New Jersey metropolitan areas."
"This lawsuit is intended to send a signal not only to the Port Authority but to every agency and officer responsible for policing our airports and highways: if you violate the rights of law-abiding gun owners, you will be held fully accountable." The lawsuit also names the arresting Port Authority police officer, Scott Erickson, as a defendant.
Once inside Essex County prison, Mr. Revell was subjected to numerous atrocities. He was thrown into a holding cell with 28 inmates, many of whom were admitted murderers and rapists. He endured a repulsive vomit-covered bed and toilet, was denied his blood pressure and migraine medication, innoculated against his will, given inedible food, strip-searched, and left only with his wits to survive.
"I did nothing wrong yet was arrested and subjected to the worst treatment imaginable for almost a week," said Mr. Revell, who has 8 children, 8 grandchildren and has been married for 36 years. "I brought this lawsuit together with the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs because I want to stop this kind of abuse from ever happening again," said Revell. "No one should ever have to experience what I experienced," he said. "I paid the price, but I’m committed to making sure no one else does."
View a copy of the Complaint here
Next weeks Carnival will be at The CounterTop Chronicles
