So, in a continuing 'study' on how firearms are used by pop culture ' (I have a post on Ashton Kucher and Demi Moore shooting, and recently about fashion couture finding out about CCW clothes) I found this article: "Selena Gomez and LeAnn Rimes Grab Guns -- Plus Did Justin Bieber Break Up with Selena?"

In the article I was pleasantly surprised that LAnne Rimes and Selena Gomez are actually shooters and not afraid to let it be known:

And although Rimes knows her way around an M4, she's a big proponent of keeping the peace.

I was also pleased that the article wasn't written in a completely anti-gun slant. However, either the author was trying to drum up drama (well, look up the source) or shooting for recreation (other than "blowing off steam") seemed a foreign concept.

Check out these quotes:

The gals might have grabbed guns because of some recent tabloid stories and rumors, using them as a way to show certain people that you don't mess with Texas girls.

What?

Selena Gomez: "Released some stress today." So was the stress simply from work and being in a foreign country far away from her friends and family, or is something else bothering Selena?

What?

Anyway, the source  is "OMG Yahoo!" so I am surprised that the Kardashians weren't somehow tied into it.

A small win, however, is that firearms are mentioned as being used by pop culture icons.

Pics from articles that the article references:

source: http://www.eonline.com/news/leann_rimes_girls_got_gun/317312#ixzz1vEmjLYIg

source: http://omg.yahoo.com/news/selena-gomez-shoots-gun-bulgaria-234352427.html;_ylt=ArhhxTtnqZOdegBoEodYD4B7pxx.;_ylu=X3oDMTFya242MHFpBG1pdANNb2QgQXJ0aWNsZSBCb2R5BHBvcwM0BHNlYwNNZWRpYUFydGljbGVCb2R5VGVtcEFzc2VtYmx5;_ylg=X3oDMTJuaDdyZDFpBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDZDVkMzY4NWMtZmIzOC0zZTUwLWI0ZmEtYTc3YTNjNTgxNWFlBHBzdGNhdANuZXdzBHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQ--;_ylv=3

About a week ago I dropped by Blade-Tech to pick up  holster. Their customer service is stellar and they had the holster done (at no charge) in a day, even cutting it to custom length for me. Anyway, you can read the details here: http://fortreg.com/firearms/?p=2149. But, this is about the tour...

Blade-Tech kindly offered to give me a factory tour which I gladly took them up on. For those that don't know Blade-Tech is located in Puyallup, WA (kind of between Seattle and Tacoma).

I was first struck by the size of the facility. I parked and walked up to a building marked BladeTech.  That was the first suite which was not retail accessible. I kept walking...and walking...about four suite lengths. That's when it dawned on me--The whole strip  was Blade-Tech! They have grown quite a bit since they first opened up Lakewood, WA!

They currently occupy approximately 30K square feet. They were literally expanding (knocking out walls, etc)  into 45K as I took the tour with eyes on expanding even more. If you were thinking that they are a small shop, you would be wrong!

I didn't realize it, but they have two knife divisions and a fire safety equipment division. They build soft goods, for example fire extinguisher carriers.

Speaking of soft goods, they are expand that line into the vest/armor carrier market! Think Tactical Tailor type gear.

Back to the tour...

I saw an injection mold machine used for their Revolution line of holsters.  It uses little plastic pellets that are shaped/sized like wood stove pellets. I think they said there are two.

I was lucky enough to be there while the Kydex mold machine (sorry, not sure what it is actually called) was running. I will try and explain it as best I remember. It runs two molds at once.

Basically there are Kydex sheets of different thickness depending on what they are making. Interesting, because I have noticed that some of their competitors only use one thickness. Logically, Blade-Tech's IWB holsters are thinner than a level III duty holster. I didn't count, but there were at least three different sizes.

So, these sheets are placed into ovens and heated up. The pistol  molds  are placed on top of two separate vacuums. These molds have tiny holes in them. The heated sheets are placed on top of the mold and the vacuum basically sucks them onto the shape of the molds!

Several large blowers then cool the roughly formed holsters. If you pictured someone with a hair dryer to heat the Kydex to mold it and then a fan to cool it off, you have the right concept, just not nearly on the same scale or technology.

From the holsters are checked by hand. Actually, let me just mention that I was genuinely surprised at how much a Blade-Tech holster is made by hand. It then goes to a person that actually puts a mold of the firearm to finish fitting. After that it goes to a person that puts the mounting hardware in, and then finally off to a QC person.

I would be very surprised if someone ever gets a holster that their pistol doesn't fit in.

Speaking of molds! This was my favorite part of the tour. Row and rows and rows and rows of stacks of molds of pistols! While I was there I spied a mold for a S&W 4566. I see an order being placed shortly. In case you couldn't tell I was really impressed with the number of molds they have. They also do flashlights, multitools, and revolver speed loaders.

I seriously doubt that anyone in the industry has more molds than Blade-Tech does.

I asked why the Blade-Tech website did not list all the holster/pistol combinations that I know they have. For example, the traditional belt holster has a huge list of selectable pistols (like the 4566), but if you go to the Eclipse it is quite a bit shorter (no 4566).

Regarding this, there are a couple things to point out:

1. There is a new website coming out and the current one is incomplete for all of the molds they have. If you call customer service they do have a full list. (They do have a toll free number too.)
2. They haven't made molds for all of the holster combinations they could possibly make. In other words they probably have not made  an Eclipse for a S&W 4566, although they can.
3. They plan on offering the Eclipse for everything they have in the standard belt line. Unfortunately, they are not the same mold so they have make it.
4. The Revolution holsters use completely different molds and they are VERY cost prohibitive. I wouldn't count on the list of supported pistols to expand greatly. They will probably only have/get molds for the most popular pistols (so, no 4566).

I asked about turn around time. They are currently at 5 weeks. This is in line with a lot of Kydex holster makers. They were actually embarassed - they had prided themselves that they until recently had a 1 -2 week turnaround previously. They are currently running 3 shifts a day including weekends to get caught up!

Now, order back logs might raise concern that QC could suffer, especially as employees work increased/more shifts. However, I was surprised and impressed that everyone there seemed to be happy--from customer service, to sales, to Kydex molder, fork lift driver, etc.  Definitely a sign of a good company.

So--great products, superior variety of pistols molds, exemplary customer service and they have happy employees? Blade-Tech is  definitely doing things right.

Heads up potential Seattle visitors! Last week the "May Day Zone" became weapons banned & confiscation, authorized by the mayor's emergency powers executive order.  Makes you wonder -- what would happen in  a real and protracted emergency  Like Hurricane Katrina? Or an eruption in the Ring of Fire?)

Anyway, article from the local news today:

Peaceful protesters said violence perpetrated by a select few wrecked their message a week ago on May Day, but the ...

http://cdn.localwireless.com/wap/news/text.jsp?sid=26&nid=529401638&cid=21216&scid=-1

You may have heard about the Seattle "May Day Protests" and the "Black Bloc" of self-proclaimed anarchists causing mayhem and destruction.

You may have even heard that Mayor McGinn banned "weapons" that included sticks, rocks, flag poles, etc. But, what you may not have known is that he actually banned *all* weapons and the police were allowed to confiscate them.

Am I being alarmist? Maybe not when you consider that this is a Mayor that attempted to uphold former Mayor Nichols' illegal firearms ban -- despite being told by the Attorney General that is was illegal, ruled against in court, ruled against in Appeals, and then finally ruled against by State Supreme Court! See a trend here? What was the order called?

ORDER AUTHORIZING THE CONFISCATION OF WEAPONS

Now, I know of no instance where there was a problem for a legal CCW holder (a valid reason why the framers of our 70s CCW laws made it CONCEALED carry) but the order is written vaguely enough to cover licensed CCW holders.

To the Mayor's credit the order did not apply to lawfully kept weapons in place of business or residence. HOWEVER, legal CCWers should have been exempted also!  Walking to your car or driving home could have put you in violation of the law in which your firearm would be potentially confiscated and you would face a $500 if convicted.

You might be wondering how this order is legal? Well, actually it appears that under  RCW38.52 it is:

RCW 38.52.020: (b) To confer upon the governor and upon the executive heads of the political subdivisions of the state the emergency powers provided herein;

and

RCW 38.52.070: (2) In carrying out the provisions of this chapter each political subdivision, in which any disaster as described in RCW 38.52.020 occurs, shall have the power to enter into contracts and incur obligations necessary to combat such disaster, protecting the health and safety of persons and property, and providing emergency assistance to the victims of such disaster. Each political subdivision is authorized to exercise the powers vested under this section in the light of the exigencies of an extreme emergency situation without regard to time-consuming procedures and formalities prescribed by law

Now the interesting thing is that even under Emergency Powers heads of political subdivisions are still answerable to the Governor.  This explains why the ORDER AUTHORIZING THE CONFISCATION OF WEAPONS mentions that a copy was sent to the Governor and King Co. Executive.

The order was written to expire in 48 hours or earlier. True to his word the Mayor did rescind it today.

I include copies of the orders here since these things tend to disappear after time and memory.

120501PR-proclamationConfiscation

120501PR-civilOrderConfiscation

120502PR-proclamationConfiscationTermination