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FROM: http://www.nraila.org/legislation/state-legislation/2013/3/washington-freedom-prevails-in-olympia.aspx?s=&st=&ps=

Freedom has prevailed again in Olympia! Yesterday was the deadline for legislation to be voted out of its chamber of origin. Thanks to your hard work and relentless opposition, House Bill 1588 failed to come up for a vote on the House floor. The fate of the so-called “universal background check” legislation and your rights came down to the wire.

On Tuesday, the state House of Representatives came to a halt for more than seven hours as House Democrats tried to round up enough votes to pass this anti-gun measure. As NRA-ILA previously reported, HB 1588 could have criminalized all private sales of firearms.

HB 1588, introduced by state Representative Jamie Pederson (D-43), was nothing more than a regulatory scheme that would have created a huge burden for law-abiding citizens, been unenforceable, and ignored by criminals. This bill was nothing more than a precursor to Universal Firearm REGISTRATION.

Your participation in the legislative process was essential to this victory! Although your Second Amendment rights were defended in Olympia during this round, the attack on your inherent right to self-defense and right to keep and bear arms is far from over. Gun owners and sportsmen must remain vigilant in order to preserve our freedoms!

The following anti-gun bills are also dead for this session:

House Bill 1676, introduced by state Representative Ruth Kagi (D-32), a so-called “child access prevention” bill which would have singled out the storage of firearms for criminalization under certain circumstances.

House Bill 1703, introduced by state Representative Laurie Jinkins (D-27), would have levied an outrageous tax on all firearm and ammunition purchases to create more bureaucracy in the form of a “firearm safety” education program.

Senate Bill 5737, introduced by state Senators Ed Murray (D-43) and Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36), would have banned commonly owned firearms mischaracterized as “assault weapons” and magazines that hold more than ten rounds. This extreme measure would have also allowed in-home inspections by law enforcement.

Your NRA-ILA will continue to keep you informed as this legislative session continues and draws to its adjournment. Caution: legislative rules can always be waived, so until the legislature adjourns on April 28, we must remain vigilant.

Colt rocks!

From: http://courantblogs.com/dan-haar/with-factory-precision-colts-workers-bring-a-message-to-lawmakers/

With Factory Precision, Colt’s Workers Bring A Message To Lawmakers
By Dan Haar On March 14, 2013 · 43 Comments

You’d expect the 175-year-old gun manufacturer that invented mass production to pull off an orderly trip to the state Capitol and that’s exactly what Colt’s Manufacturing Co. did on Thursday, as 550 employees left a clear message, then returned to work.

“Save our jobs.”

They piled into ten full-size luxury buses, mostly from the Constitution Coach Co., making for an appropriately labeled convoy from the factory of Colt’s and sister company Colt Defense LLC on New Park Avenue, just over the West Hartford line.
Nancy Reder on the bus to the state Capitol. Patrick Raycraft/The Hartford Courant

Nancy Reder on the bus to the state Capitol. Patrick Raycraft/The Hartford Courant

It was an action of the company, not the United Auto Workers union that represents 489 people at the firearms plant. The UAW, in fact, has been strangely silent on gun control at the state Capitol this year despite the threat to jobs.

Click here for photos of the event

Managers, top executives, union and nonunion staff, first-shifters on the company clock, second- and third-shift workers on their own time — they all traveled together for the 9-minute ride, were unified in chanting that slogan outside the Legislative Office Building, then stood vigil in neat lines on all five levels of the marble atrium, holding red-and-white placards as lawmakers convened yet another hearing on gun control.

“I feel I make a difference,” said Nancy Reder, a buyer of maintenance products and services who has worked at Colt and Colt’s for 35 years. She was talking about both her job and her role in Thursday’s event.

Reder, wearing jeans and a Colt-embroidered denim jacket, was struck by the beauty of the state Capitol in the sunlight as employees marched past the south entrance, under the office windows of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Malloy wants to ban the sale of AR-15 military style, semiautomatic rifles, one of the main products these workers make and sell. Colt’s has been the largest factory contingent to make a stand before lawmakers, but on Monday, Stag Arms closed production in New Britain and brought dozens of workers, and employees of O.F. Mossberg & Sons in North Haven have also made the trip.

It’s not the same message delivered by the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights groups, which have brought thousands of people to the Capitol to drive home their points about personal freedom and the Second Amendment.

No, at Colt and Colt’s, the message is about the community — 670 jobs between the two companies at the West Hartford facility, an unknowable number of which would be threatened by an outright ban on AR-15 rifles proposed by Malloy and some Democratic legislators.

They were polite, they moved in and out of the building as one, and they were armed with written talking points: “We are your neighbors and we want a safer Connecticut too. A ban on our product will not make us safer. Keeping firearms out of the wrong hands will.”

Kevin Parkinson, a 14-year security employee at Colt Defense, had a deeper connection to the Newtown tragedy than many, as his wife, Katrina Devona, grew up in that town and attended the Sandy hook Elementary School.

“It hit pretty hard,” Parkinson said, but he, like everyone on these buses, holds steadfastly to the belief that his work is not making the world more dangerous.

There is no wavering on that point, and it was hard to even find Colt employees who have had animated conversations with people who favor a ban on military-style rifles. “For the most part, my family and friends think the way I do,” said Deneen Silvers, a labor relations manager at Colt’s. As for lawmakers on the other side of the issue, she said, “We think we can work together.”

One possible compromise is a full registration requirement, as already exists for handguns, for all firearms that have a pistol grip — or for all rifles. Many of the Colt and Colt’s workers said that wouldn’t be so bad, if it would avert a ban on the AR-15 rifle that’s such a big part of their livelihoods.

Colt and Colt’s, which are separately, privately owned but operate under the same roof under joint agreements, have invested heavily in civilian versions of the AR-15 over the last five years, as sales of the military version, the M-4, have wound down. AR-15 sales in Connecticut are just a small part of revenues, of course, but the stakes of a ban are still perilously high for these workers.

“Let’s say it passes,” Colt’s CEO Dennis Veilleux said. “Our customers are going to try to apply pressure to us by not buying our product. They’re going to come right out and tell us, ‘Get out of Connecticut.”

“If we don’t stand up and fight,” Veilleux added, “they won’t buy our product, in fact they’ll boycott it.”

That’s partly why the company does not officially favor any compromise measures, It’s too bad, but it’s political reality.

Likewise, it’s possible that UAW Region 9A and Local 376 are silent because at the national level, the union is loyal to President Obama, who bailed out the automakers and fought hard to save union jobs. No one at UAW is talking, at any level, even to return my calls and issue a “no comment.”

The regional and local UAW leaders issued a memo to members Wednesday, saying its workers “have a proud tradition of producing the finest forearms in the world…We are committed to keeping our communities safe and strong.”

The memo had no word one way or another about the legislation.

Mike Holmes, the shop chairman at Colt and Colt’s, was one of many employees who remembered a similar day 20 years ago, when hundreds of Colt’s employees filed into the Capitol complex at a time when lawmakers were considering a similar ban on so-called assault weapons. Then-Lt. Gov Eunice Groark broke an 18-18 tie in the Senate, and the 1993 beat a national ban by one year.

“We filled the chambers,” Holmes recalled.

That law, still in effect in Connecticut, leaves room for sale of modified versions of the AR-15, including the one used by the killer in Newtown, which was made by a different company, Bushmaster.

This time, a ban could have no such wiggle room. Stricter background check measures and full licensing requirements for rifles with pistol grips might make sense and would keep Connecticut in the vanguard of gun control legislation.

But bans on equipment make less sense, and no sense at all for individual states to pass. An estimated 8 million military-style rifles are in circulation in the United States and they do not respect state lines.

In late morning, after the bus ride back, all the workers from all the shifts piled back into the 300,000-square-foot complex, with the blue, beveled roofs that identify large factories. The company served lunch for everyone. “They earned it,” Veilleux said as he shook hands and thanked workers, many by first name. “I was going to have it outside but it’s too cold.”

Nancy Reder mused that work is piling up on her desk, and she was eager to jump back into it. “I feel lucky to have the job,” she said. “I don’t take it for granted.”

Gosh, everybody wants to keep criminals from heaving firearms!
Unfortunately, "universal background checks" won't do that and are completely doomed to failure. Here's why...

1. Criminals don't follow the law. Sounds painfully obvious but Joe criminal illegally buying guns from another party (again breaking the law) is not going to all of a sudden go to his local gunshop or police station and pay for a background check. duh..

2. Firearms are not registered with a title like a car (at least in free states). Ownership is usually possession. However, how are you going to prove if/when a firearm was transferred? Today under the proposed universal background checks a person can simply say that they obtained the firearm prior to law. Or even easier, it is not theirs but borrowed from a "friend."

There are only two ways that the deeply flawed model of universal background checks would remotely work as intended:

1. A centralized registration system which is ILLEGAL under Federal Law.

2. Background check of ALL owners - also ILLEGAL and EX POST FACTO.

Notice how both options are ILLEGAL??? Ironic since the universal background check model relies on people to be law abiding and get a background check in the first place.

Universal background checks make good sound bites. But that's about it. Folks that worry about it being step 1 of a scheme against firearms have reason to be worry.

It wasn't that long ago that everyone was saying "No one is going to take your guns away." Now that has transformed into "No one is taking your hunting shotgun away."

Media used to call it paranoid, but with numerous proposals for outright bans, registrations and EVEN confiscations proposed for "assault weapons" and "high-capacity" magazines is there any doubt of the anti-gunner's goal?

"High capacity" can mean 15, 10, and now as few as 8 in NY or even 1!!! (as proposed in CT) How long before they come for that hunting shotgun?

How long before they say you don't "NEED" to hunt
... just like they claim you don't need an "assault weapon."

If you haven't called your legislators (or even if you have) please do so now. I have sample letters for Federal Congress and WA available here.

FROM: http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2013/03/04/magpul-magpul-says-it-wont-sell-gun-magazines-to-police-officers-until-they-take-loyalty-oaths/91999/

Already threatening to leave Colorado if House Bill 1224 becomes law, Magpul Industries now says it will not sell gun magazines to law enforcement officers unless they pledge to uphold the Second and 14th Amendments [remat: I corrected capitalization] to the U.S. Constitution.

“Back in 1990, when I was deployed in Desert Shield and Desert Storm as a Marine grunt, some companies prioritized me items for my M16 for shipping that I purchased with my own funds,” Magpul president and founder John Fitzpatrick said in a statement on the company’s website. “After getting out and forming Magpul in 1999, I established the same priority policy for Military and Law Enforcement, due to the requirements of their profession.”

“The same policy has been in place for 13 years now and has never been an issue until a few days ago. I do not support the idea that individual police officers should be punished for the actions of their elected officials. That said, I understand the concerns that some have with Law Enforcement officers getting special treatment while at the same time denouncing second amendment rights to another citizen in the same state.

“With the fight in Colorado right now we do not have time to implement a new program, so I have suspended all LE sales to ban states until we can implement a system wherein any Law Enforcement Officer buying for duty use will have to promise to uphold their oath to the US Constitution – specifically the Second and Fourteenth amendments – as it applies to all citizens.”

Magpul, a gun magazine manufacturer based in Erie, Colo., and employs about 200, has said it will leave Colorado if House Bill 1224 passes. That bill, which has already passed the Democratic-controlled House and is now working its way to the Senate floor, would limit gun magazines to 15 rounds.

John Jackson, police chief in Greenwood Village and chairman of the legislative committee for the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, said the move was unwarranted. While the chiefs association supports the legislation, individual officers shouldn’t be targeted, Jackson said.

“Law enforcement is not involved politically, and it’s our opinion that public safety has no partisan line,” Jackson said.

“They (officers) have already taken an oath to follow the Constitution,” Jackson said. “There is no reason for them to have to reaffirm that for any individual business or purchase. [remat: I corrected capitalization]

“That’s like asking them to reaffirm the First Amendment if they want to go to a movie.”

News media didn't capitalize the Constitution or Amendments. I corrected it. Sad.

SOURCE: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/3/student-suspended-wrestling-loaded-revolver-away-g/

Really not clear what this student was supposed to do? Stand by and let the other student get shot?
Stand by and let himself get shot?
Some much for "gun free zones."

Bizzarro-world.

This student should be heralded as a hero.

A 16-year-old student from Fort Myers, Fla., was suspended for three days after he wrestled a loaded gun away from another student on the school bus.

The Cypress Lake High School student grappled a loaded .22-caliber RG-14 revolver away from the 15-year-old suspect on the ride home Tuesday.

Witnesses say the suspect, a football player, aimed the weapon point-blank at a teammate and threatened to shoot him.

“I think he was really going to shoot him right then and there,” said the student who wrestled the gun away and who requested to be unidentified.

“No doubt he was going to shoot him point-blank,” he added.

According to Fox4Now.com, the student was suspended for his role in an “incident” in which a weapon was present and given an “emergency suspension.”

“It’s dumb,” he said. “How they going to suspend me for doing the right thing?”

“We cannot discuss specifics involving students,” district spokesman Alberto Rodriguez said in a statement, according to Fox4Now.com. “Florida law allows the principal to suspend a student immediately pending a hearing.”

Principal Tracey Perkins refused to comment.

The 15-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm on school property and assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, Fox4Now.com reports.

On a Sunday talk show, as reported by the Illinois State Rifle Association, police Superintendent Garry F. McCarthy said that firearm owners who lobby their representatives, or who donate money to political campaigns, for pro-Second Amendment issues are guilty of corruption and of endangering public safety.

I kid you not. Since when is having a certain position or supporting your cause against the law? This is the mentality that we are up against -- if someone doesn't like something they outlaw it. This is the top cop from the 3rd largest PD in the U.S.! His views on the Constitution are even more frightening.

Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/18/chicago-police-chief-second-amendment-supporters-g/

The embattled police chief — who previously blamed “government-sponsored racism” and Sarah Palin for Chicago’s gun-related violence, and who once said the Second Amendment itself was a threat to the nation’s security, according to a report by Red State — also said judges and lawmakers should focus more on public opinion polls when considering constitutional matters, the ISRA reported.

On Sunday, Superintendent McCarthy also said the Second Amendment does, in fact, allow for governments and police agencies to impose mandatory liability insurance requirements on gun owners, and that GPS tracking devices can be lawfully affixed to firearms sold to civilians, according to the ISRA.

ISRA spokespeople hit back.

“Garry McCarthy’s understanding of our Constitution barely qualifies him as a meter maid, never mind the chief of the nation’s third-largest police department,” said ISRA executive director Richard Pearson. “What on earth would possess McCarthy to assert that constitutional rights should be meted out based on public opinion polls?”

Mr. Pearson reminded, in the Red State report, that if public opinion polls were the deciding factors for constitutional law, women may never have received the right to vote.

“It has been said that our Constitution exists to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority,” he said in the Red State report. “McCarthy’s view of our Constitution is dangerous and unbecoming of a civil servant.”

I am a sucker for ballistics, although admittedly their value is often over-stated and people spend far too much time arguing which one is "better." Choosing 115gr vs 124gr vs 147gr should not be a traumatic experience :) However, I find it interesting when we get real world data.

Here is a great thread from: http://www.warriortalk.com/showthread.php?96214-Factory-ammo-chronographed-in-G30-and-G21

Since I am looking to get a Gen4 (29 or 30) in the near future I found it interesting. Especially since it includes two of my favorites: Speer GoldDot and Hornady TAP.

Highlights:

1. Remington Golden Saber 230gr
765 fps/ 805 fps

A mild to shoot load. Pretty weak as well. Unlike the others (except for #2 this one is a few years old.

2. Federal 230gr Hydro Shock
810 fps/ 830 fps
Another older and very mild to shoot load.

3. Buffalo Bore 230gr JHP (Montana Gold bullet) +P
---/940 fps.
One thing about Buffalo Bore is their bullets go as fast as they say. When I pulled the trigger on this load I had to really hang on to the gun. Big kick and big boom. Truth in advertising but pretty usless for point shooting or any one handed shooting. I did not bother with the G30 test.

4. Hornady TAP 230gr +P (XTP bullet)
847 fps/ 865 fps.
Heck of a nice load. Easy shooter for full power. Obviously +P means different things to different ammo makers. This is a great full power 45 acp load.

5. Hornady TAP 200gr +P (XTP bullet)
938 fps/ 965 fps
Also heck of a nice load. Plenty of speed but easy to shoot. Outstanding load.

6. Speer Gold Dot 230gr
802 fps/ 846
Good standard pressure performance and as gentle as can be. Made the G21 feel like it was shooting marshmallows. Easier to shoot than the Hornaday loads.

7. Speer Gold Dot 200gr +P
997 fps/ 1050 fps
Woof! I didn't know Speer had it in them. This load is a rocket! Recoil and blast are really up there though. With enough practice I could learn to shoot it well but not without specific training (remember... point shooting, on the move and either hand). It's an awesome powerful load but too much of a good thing at least for me.

8. Double Tap 230gr JHP (Gold Dot's)
860 fps/ 890 fps
This is the load I carry when I'm toting a Glock 45. It's a standard pressure load that moves the bullet very very fast. I reshot them last weekend in a direct comparison to the Hornady loads above. I could not tell a recoil difference. Easy, fast and accurate. The only downside is they are only occasionally available from Double Tap.

Let's add some more from: http://www.stoppingpower.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19298

Highlights:
5 shots ave with each rounds. Chronograph 12 feet 65 70 deg 2500 feet el.

Glock 21. Glock 30

Double tap 185 +P. 1119 fps. 999 fps
Rem 185+P. 1126 fps. 1096 fps
Rem golden saber 185+P 1094 fps. 1033 fps
Rem golden saber 230. 856 fps. 813 fps
Corbon 185 +P. 1127 fps. 1108 fps
Winchester 230 SXT +P. ??? 875 fps

Google-FU is strong on this topic (http://glocktalk.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1305515.html):

corbon 185jhp +P 1127 fps 1108 fps
rem 185jhp +P 1143 fps 1096 fps
double tap 185jhp+p 1119 fps 1060 fps
rem golden saber 185+P 1092 fps 1033 fps
rem golden saber 230 856 fps 813 fps

Interesting that the Rem GS load is significantly higher than what FirearmsTactical and the person above got (both in the 1030ish range).

A lot of criticism has been levelled at Armalite for their NY policy. However, in support for the 2nd Amendment they funded this video. It is a very good video demonstrating the amount of time required to reload - first using standard capacity mags (high capacity to some) vs restricted capacity 10 and then 6.

They use two different shooters to show that the lack of time difference (a couple of seconds) was not rigged due to shooter.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/01/sheriff-debunks-fallacies-surrounding-gun-magazines-in-this-viral-vid-plus-his-response-to-bidens-shotgun-advice/

I have never seen so many draconian laws proposed.

I have never seen such a focused mainstream media assault.

I have never seen the Executive Branch continuously evangelize gun control.

And it is a truth be darned onslaught - Examples: Biden doesn't seem to know that machine guns are actually legal for civilian to buy/own, mainstream media calls any tactical vest bullet-proof body armor (Lanza and today's MIT hoax). I think if they were wearing a fishing vest they would call it a bulle-proof vest. If a firearm can be called an "assault weapon" it is. If it is a semi-auto of any type it is called out. "Clips" [sic] and ammo, even if not involved (kept at home) are always enumerated.

Never mentioned is how many current gun laws were already being violated. CT has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the Nation! including much of which is being promoted as needed by other states!

They rarily talk about the drugs or medical treatment the assailant had or was undergoing. I hear mental health mentioned (as of late) but little about its failings and how it is going to be fixed. Apparently gun control advocates believe that gun shows are the real enablers to these killers.

The 2nd Amendment is openly being called 'antiquated' and 'obsolete' (because we can pick and choose from it. The anti-gun people and media spin is in overdrive and they are not pulling any punches.

And in response to the above I have never received so much direct correspondence from firearm companies to act and contact my legislators.

Law enforcement seems to be split and this confuses me. Previously I posted a national newspaper article which questioned whether or not law enforcement should even be armed with a poll! This article basically lumped law enforcement with lawful gun owners - it said we were all potential criminals!

When a Canadian Police Officer goes home for the day they are required to CHECK IN their sidearm!

Law enforcement - at the end of the day are civilians. When you retire you are a civilian. I urge you take this into consideration. You may be issued a sidearm today, but what about tomorrow? Please stand with lawful gun owners and oppose these new draconian firearm restrictions -

you know as well we do that a criminal is not going to go to his local police station for a background check.

You know that maniacs are always choose targets that are the least defended and easiest targets. The

Newtown Shooter said he picked the school, a "Gun Free Zone,"

on purpose because of this.

Let me also remind you that New York currently doesn't even honor your right to carry a firearm as professional courtesy - even though it is Federally legislated!

As for vendors/gun companies standing to boycott NY's ridiculous, arbitrary, and ex-post facto new laws:
http://www.ncgunblog.com/new-york-boycott/

Here is a recent Y! News Article that talks about the boycott and law enforcement. It surprisingly is a decent article. The criticism is good. I hope that the bigger companies take note. They need to stand with us or they face their buying public being outlawed. The flaw is that they think that they don't realize they face themselves being legislated out of existence too.