The Gun Shots

Glenn Eller Wins Olympic Gold

Glenn Eller of Katy, Texas, won a gold medal and set two Olympic records in the Men's Double Trap competition.

From USA Shooting:

Eller, a member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), who finished 12th at the Sydney Games and 17th in Athens, entered the final round today four targets ahead of Italy'€™s Francesco D'€™ Aniello with a qualification score of 145, setting a new Olympic record. The previous Olympic record of 144 was set by Ahmed Almaktoum of the United Arab Emirates at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

After missing his first pair in the final, Eller ended up shooting 45 targets and finished with a total score of 190 targets, setting another Olympic record and taking home the gold.

"I was so happy after I won, but I didn'€™t know whether to cry, smile or jump up and down,"€ said Eller. "After my performances in the last two Olympics, I really wanted to come here and bring home a medal for the U.S. This is definitely one of the greatest moments of my life so far."

Well done, Glenn.

—€”John Snow

Lessons From The Olympics

I just spent an hour watching the women’s trap final thanks to the impressive streaming web broadcasts at nbcolympics.com and couldn’t help but be impressed by the level of shooting on display. This should really go without saying, of course, as the Olympic shooting disciplines are the world’s toughest.

Two things really stood out, however, that would benefit any shooter at any level. First, was the consistency of technique. All six of the women had their individual styles but that style never varied when they shot. From loading the gun to mounting the gun to calling for the target to the follow-through: each shooter had her set routine. Want to break more targets? Be consistent.

The second thing was really a subset of consistency and that was their follow-through. All the shooters were amazingly smooth and kept their barrels moving after the shot. This was particularly noticeable on the hard-angle targets.

Except when they missed.

Granted, the misses were not many, but it was amazing to see that when they did miss their barrels were almost always not moving in the same smooth fashion. While I was rooting for each and every one of them to smash the hell out of their targets I couldn’t help but smile when witnessing this mistake, if for no other reason than I knew exactly how they felt, having done it so often myself.

Also, congratulations to Corey Cogdell (pictured above) on capturing the bronze medal in the event. It was an inspiration to watch her fight back after dropping behind the leaders in the beginning part of the match.

—John Snow

Next Condor-country Ban: Bolts and Rags?

All you southern California do-it-yourselfers prepare to rid your shops of bolts, nuts and grease rags. And that pop-bottle top that blew out of your trash just might choke the last remaining California condor.

The recovery of the endangered condor soared into the absurd this week with a report from the American Ornithologist's Union that once again says hunters¹ lead ammunition is poisoning the graceful scavengers.

The report provides new glimpses of the towering futility of the recovery effort. According to the Los Angeles Times condors can be considered "little more than outdoor zoo populations" thanks to the intensity of human intervention. They are being sustained artificially by government "feeding stations" that feature lead-free carcasses, by surgical removal of bolts, nuts, rags and other debris the majestic birds pick up in their long flights over southern California and the American Southwest. Chicks are vaccinated against West Nile disease.

Yet the report once again fingers hunters as a culprit in the recovery bottleneck, citing the ingestion of lead from big-game carcasses as a principle cause of mortality.

This even though the report goes on to mention that reintroduced condors are busy raiding trash dumps and being electrocuted by power poles. I'll await the recommendation that will bury all powerlines in California and criminalize trash generation.

The ornithologists recommend that California's ban on lead hunting bullets be adopted by neighboring states. And in order to boost compliance the group urges manufacturers and retailers to increase the availability of non-lead ammunition in the region. The reason? Because poachers kill large numbers of big-game animals and are "unlikely to comply" with lead-free rules "as long as lead bullets are easily purchased."

Great idea. Poachers are as likely to buy copper bullets as Southern Californians are to stop producing trash.

- Andrew McKean

Seizing Guns In Connecticut

My home state might not be located in “free America”—as one of my companions on a prairie dog shoot in Wyoming recently told me—but its gun laws are much better than those of the surrounding states of New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. And much, much better than what New Jersey residents need to go through.

Getting a concealed carry permit is no big deal and we’re allowed to own Class III items with a couple of exceptions. But there is one law on the books I didn’t know about that is very worrying. Seems if a neighbor or family member doesn’t like you they can call the police to come take your guns.

From the World Daily Net:

A new report to the Connecticut state legislature shows police have used the state's unique gun seizure law to confiscate more than 1,700 firearms from citizens based on suspicion that the gun owners might harm themselves or others.

The law has been on the books since 1999 and even the director of the Connecticut State Civil Liberties Union  doesn’t like it:

Joe Graborz, executive director of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union, an affiliate of the ACLU, told WND the law "continues to invest unusual and far-reaching powers in police authority that does not belong there" by requiring "police to act as psychologists in trying to predict and interpret behavior."

"What is the standard of proof on this?" he asked. "The way this law is written, it can and will be easily abused by police."

Prior to the seizure of one man’s firearms, police cited in their application the man’s “extensive self-protection measures” that were installed on his property, “including alarms, cameras and spotlights.”

Really? Having a home alarm system, security cameras and floodlights is a cause for police to confiscate your guns? Might be time to move to Wyoming.

—John Snow

Gun Grill

This has to rank pretty high as one of the coolest summer BBQ accessories ever. I wonder if the porting at the muzzle vents smoke.

—John Snow

Big Blades

We were talking knives in the office the other day and I was gushing about some of my favorite knives—in particular, my favorite big knives, of which I have many. (Yes, I know this is a gun blog. But I don’t know of any gun guys who also don’t like knives.)

So I decided to bring in some of my most cherished big-ass blades to show them off to my co-workers and one thing led to another and before I knew it we had a photo shoot going with a couple of our more lovely looking staffers. Here is the photo gallery of that shoot.

I’ve been collecting big knives since I was a little kid and always get excited when a new blade comes along. One of my good friends happens to work at SOG Knives and he knows my affinity for oversized cutlery so when the company introduced the Tigershark 2.0 he sent one along and made my month. It is a jaw-dropping example of a wickedly cool blade.

I also recently got one of Surefire’s new knives, the Delta Fixed-Blade Combat Knife. This is on the small end of what I consider a big blade but it is a hell of a knife. I’ve taken to wearing it concealed under my shirt—particularly in places where I can’t wear a sidearm—and it is surprisingly comfortable on my hip.

I don’t know if I’ll ever need the built in wire cutter (which was designed with LE and military folks in mind to help them remove flex-cuffs) but it is completely unobtrusive as is the integral harness/seatbelt cutter.

We’re looking for pictures of your big-ass blades, too. Send them to us at outdoorlifephotos@yahoo.com.

—John Snow

Ruger SR9 Recall Update

This just in from Ruger:

More info here.

—John Snow

Massachusetts Gun Owners Under Fire

It's like a game of anti-gun one-upmanship. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, perhaps inspired by Washington D.C.'s gun-hating mayor, has announced that if he can't take away his citizens' firearms that he sure as hell is going to make them pay dearly to own them. This is from a bulletin put out by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF):

On Sunday, July 13, the governor filed a special budget appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008. The bill calls for increasing the licensing fee for Massachusetts firearms dealers – a move that could ultimately force many of the state’s retailers out of business. The proposed fee change would increase a three-year license from $100 to $450.

The governor is also proposing to increase license-to-carry fees on law-abiding citizens, both resident and non-resident. The license fee for residents will go from $100 for 6 years to $200, while the non-resident license will balloon to $250 a year from $100.

“Governor Patrick feels he can now try to supplement the budget deficit on the backs of small mom-and-pop businesses and law-abiding gun owners,” said NSSF Director of Government Relations Jake McGuigan. “Clearly, the goal of this administration is to further restrict the rights of its citizens and businesses through a hefty Second Amendment tax.”

Sadly, you can't say this comes as a surprise.

The NSSF is urging all "Massachusetts sportsmen, hunters, firearms enthusiasts and retailers" to contact their local representatives and senators. In addition, nonresidents can call 617-725-4005 to voice their concerns.

—John Snow

Thanks For Nothing Mayor Fenty

Washington D.C.'s politicos haven't quite embraced the meaning of the Second Amendment even in the post-Heller era.

Proposed legislation is laughable for how restrictive it is. My favorite:

Firearms in the home must be stored unloaded and disassembled, and secured with either a trigger lock, gun safe, or similar device. The new law will allow an exception for a firearm while it is being used against an intruder in the home.

Gee, thanks.

—John Snow

A Cop’s Views On Concealed Carry

Cowtown Cop, who as far as I can tell just started blogging, offers his perspective, as a law-enforcement officer, on concealed carry permits. His verdict? He says during the course of a traffic stop when someone handed over his or her CCW permit his feeling was one of relief.

Imagine the relief when the driver hands you a drivers license and a CCW permit. Those two things tell you a lot about a person. One, I can know for certain who this person is and two, this person has subjected themselves to a criminal background check and the State has said yes, we trust you with a concealed weapon. This is probably not a bad guy here.

He also reinforces the common-sense notion, which rarely seems to occur to anti-gun folks, that the only person who can protect you, is you—and not the police. 

Don't let anyone tell you that the police are responsible for your safety because that simply is not true. When I started in law enforcement we averaged about 1 officer for every 1200 citizens. Now that number is more like 1 officer for every 1500. Can you ensure the safety of 1500 people? Neither can I. Also remember that of those 1500 people that need protection a significant number of them are criminals who will not cooperate with you and will actively try to harm the others.

Worth remembering.

—John Snow