This is going to be the first in a new series here at MVAP. Expect a stream-of-consciousness type thing where I spew random gun-related thoughts.
As most of you know, this editor is a big proponent of the 2nd Amendment. I’m all for a well armed populace. As Robert A. Heinlein said (or more correctly, had one of his characters say it) in the book Beyond the Horizon, “An armed society is a polite society, Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.”
Heinlein may have been romanticizing the old west or the pre-civil war south, where duels often settled personal disputes. However, Heinlein was an old-school libertarian, almost anarchistic in his views on government, so this view wouldn’t have been outside his beliefs.
While I tend to agree with this thought, the way society is fraying at the edges gives me pause. Before you jump to conclusions, I still think everyone should be armed, and more importantly proficient. Let’s be honest, most people don’t train with their firearms enough. On that note, look for more firearms training articles, quick and easy things that will improve your proficiency and accuracy.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
That’s the first stanza of a poem called the Second Coming by William Yeats. I’m beginning to think that the centre cannot hold in our society. Make of that what you will, I may just be in a mood. Anyway, that feeling is why I’ve been writing so much about guns and prepping of late.
In some less depressing news, SCOTUS granted cert in Garland v Cargill. That’s the bumpstock ban suit. Oral arguments will be sometime in the spring term. As WhiteKnightLeo pointed out to me, that case is less about 2A and more about the Chevron doctrine. For those who don’t know, the Chevron doctrine is an administrative law principle that compels federal courts to defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous or unclear statute that Congress delegated to the agency to administer. This case has the potential to dismantle the administrative state.
The Supremes also granted cert in NRA v Vullo. In that case the NRA is suing because the State of New York sent veiled threats to banks and other financial institutions about doing business with the NRA.
BOLO: Springfield imported Imbel 5.56 FAL
If anyone ever sees one of these for sale, please, PLEASE let me know. I didn’t know they existed until I saw the video, and now I’d trade my firstborn for one. . .
There was a time when this editor would jump on a new cartridge as soon as it hit the market if it was at all interesting. As a result, I have a number of rifles chambered in now-obsolete cartridges like the .24×45 Sharps sitting in my safe. I have gotten over that habit.
However, Hornady just introduced the .22 ARC, and I’m intrigued. It was designed to fit in an AR-15 length action and shoot heavy-for-caliber bullets. There are three factory loadings available, 88 and 75 grain ELD match and 62 grain ELD VT (a frangible varmint bullet). Hornady says it rivals the .22-250 in velocity, but as of yet I haven’t seen any published numbers.
Wrapping up, if you support 2A organizations, you may want to take a look at the Firearms Policy Coalition. They are a no-nonsense gun rights group and are the ones behind a lot, and I mean a lot, of gun rights lawsuits. Whoever runs their twitter account is really funny.
Unlike the NRA, the FPC uses any donations they get to make the printer go brrr.