Someone, somewhere might be making bacon

Apparently Michigan has declared pigs to be an invasive species. Ok, pretty common in many places; in many states, wild feral hogs are an invader into the natural environment. They're often not handled as a game animal and are KOS, or if they are treated as a game animal there are very lax hunting rules.

But Michigan seems to be going a step further and requiring small farmers to destroy their herds of swine, at least according to non-MSM single-source reporting. Crazy. I bet Big Agribusiness wrote that regulation.

Sad

I have been on Kodiak the last few days preparing for our bear hunting expedition. The memorial service for the two Coast Guardsmen who were murdered recently was open to the public so I attended. It was a great ceremony with lots of support from the community and base.

I also attended the transfer of the caskets from the chapel to the C-130 today. It was a beautiful day, as if Alaska herself wanted to give a proper send off to the fallen Coast Guardsmen. A bald eagle circled overhead, the sun was shining, and the hillside is starting to green. A family of Sitka deer waited patiently across the street from the chapel.

A sad day to be sure, but also a day to think and reflect.

Traffic Roll Up

Out of curiosity today I pulled up my traffic statistics for the blog for the last 12 months. Here's some of the highlights:

• ~16K total visitors.
• Average of around 200 visits per week.
• Huge spikes occur around certain posts (mostly the ones about Canada, and also Polar Pure). Generally these posts come from links from larger blogs (thanks, Uncle and Sebastian!).
• Almost 1/4 of the traffic was driven directly from PA Gun Blog. Another quarter comes from Google Searches. About 10% was driven from Say Uncle. 5% comes from Sean and another 5% from Linoge. The rest is from other assorted sources.
• Four of the top ten most popular search terms revolve around "40 SW HiPoint." My post on the HiPoint is one of the most popular on this blog, at least after posts about Canada.
• 70% of the visitors are ostensibly new, 30% are repeat. I have a feeling it is probably closer to 50/50, and some of my repeat readers purge their caches and cookies occasionally or use VPN services.

Clearly, to drive more traffic, I need to write more posts about HiPoints and Canada!

Taurus Judge

Ok, I hate snakes as much as the next guy and a handgun dedicated to turning snakes into belts is pretty awesome.

Still, what makes people think this is a good defensive weapon? There's lots of hype on the internet and I see people using them to qualify for CWPs.

Some folks next to us at the pistol range had one out over the weekend. I think they were shooting the .410 Winchester PDX load which is much vaunted on teh internets (basically, three disks with ballistics approaching the mighty .32 ACP and a bunch of BBs). Target at 5 yards. The load performed pretty much as reported on the internet; the three discs were spreading out over what looked like around 5" and the BBs were all over the place, with probably around a quarter off the paper (looked like a fairly standard ~20" wide humanoid type target). The recoil looked pretty heavy and it was slow back on target but then again they weren't in an aggressive combat shooting stance when firing it, so its probably better if you control the weapon with an aggressive stance. Noise was fairly hellacious.

I had my GP-100 out next station over and was putting controlled pairs of .38 special +P JHP into a thoracic cavity sized circle in about two seconds (fast as the range allows), but hey, to each their own. On the way home DW commented that the Judge was probably awesome as a defensive weapon if you anticipated taking all shots at 3 to 7 yards, you never had to worry about an adverse background (i.e. you never carry it in a public place), you never have to worry about family members potentially in the line of fire, you never have a failure to stop, and if there aren't too many assailants. Needless to say we're both sticking with the M&P on the street, and a long gun AND an M&P in the house.

But if you have a lot of snakes that need to be turned into belts, the Judge might just be the ticket.

North, to Alaska, you go North, the rush is on...

The bags have been packed and weighed, food dehydrated, tickets bought, knives sharpened, rifles zeroed, and I am signing off for the next few weeks!  Hopefully we'll get a chance at a bear, but even more we hope to stay warm and safe while enjoying the Wild.  And maybe enjoying a bit of Moose Tooth as well!

"Some say God was tired when He made it,

Some say it's a fine land to shun.

Maybe, but there's some as would trade it,

For no land on earth - and I'm one."

Strip Searches

I know that this is WAY last week, but I came across a link about the recent SCOTUS decision on Florence v. County of Burlington, aka the strip searches for everyone in jails decision.

There was a wailing NPR panel about this one afternoon while I was driving home from work. The host clearly thought the decision was a bunch of right wing police state nazism signaling the death of the American dream. The panel was divided. One of the leftist types was actually pragmatic about it -- I mean, if you're putting people into the general population then you have to search them for contraband.

Only one panelist, I think he was center-right, brought up the root cause issue here which is that our modern justice system puts lots of non-violent offenders into prison. The problem isn't that people get strip searched before they go into the general holding population at County Lockup. The problem is that we're incarcerating huge percentages of the population. If we stopped throwing non-violent personal-use drug offenders, people who fail to pay minor fines, and other similar offenders into prison and instead decriminalized the activity or treated it like a simple Revenue Generating Measure like traffic fines, then you'd have fewer people being abusively strip searched.

What did you do to prepare this week?

I hope to make this post about weekly disaster preparation progress a regular feature. I'm stealing the idea from Ryan over at TSLRF, who in turn is stealing the idea from someone else. Still it is a good way to track progress over time. I'm going to be a bit more formal than Ryan and track progress in categories. I'm also going to roll all of April into this post so it is a two-week look.

PEOPLE - FITNESS

I earned 2618 points on Fitocracy over the course of four workouts. I really need to do better with this, in terms of upping the frequency of workouts. I need to get back to three solid workouts per week, and I want to get back to doing at least some basic calisthenics each morning. I was making more progress when I was religiously doing 10 minutes of push-ups, burpees, situps, squats, lunges, etc every morning.

Heather earned 2602 points over the course of seven workouts.

Both of us are making pretty good progress on fitness goals. I still want to lose a bit more weight, get a bit more upper body strength, and continue to work on my run time. Heather is building up her strength -- she was slinging around multiple 25 lb boxes of kitty litter at the store with ease, which probably would have been a bit tougher for her a year ago.

INFORMATION

I took advantage of the USGS map sale to pick up maps of the local area for $1 apiece. Its nice to have a 1:100 or closer (1:24 quads are the best) map of your environs. These were older 1974 era topo maps but still, major geographic features, highways, etc don't change all that much. We use them for planning hiking and camping trips, doing some map recon before a hunting trip, and other such outdoor activities. Once we have our puppy we will use them to do some map recon on training and romping areas before going out with the dog.

We also use them as wall decorations. We have a room with our camping gear and we put up maps with the routes of our adventures highlighted on the wall.

ACTIVITIES & TRAINING

In late March we attended Appleseed and really improved our precision rifle skills. We did another two range trips. The focus was on the 30-06 and 45-70 hunting rifles and the .22s but we always go to the pistol range. On week one we worked the defensive pistols, including giving some training to one of my coworkers.

On week two we pulled out our revolvers. For some reason my GP-100 was shooting low and to the left a few years ago (*cough cough pre-ignition push on the part of the guy behind it cough cough*) so today I got around to fixing the sights. It is now shooting dead on at 7 yards from the bench which I figure is good enough for minute of bunny in the field; I don't plan on engaging rabbits out at much beyond 10 so that works for me. Heather tore nice ragged holes with her single action Uberti.

STUFF

Emergency Kits. The big event of the last few weeks was prepping our emergency rucksacks. I blogged about that quite a bit. In April I've been polishing them off with some finishing touches. The kits needed a bit of rounding out; some were missing a few items, for example. I also ordered a set of bright orange handkerchiefs (one for each kit). Handkerchiefs are one of those items with a million and one uses, and orange is a useful color (can use when hunting, also good in an emergency).

Solar. I did find an entry level solar solution which I'll blog about more later. Suffice to say it is a cheap, lightweight pocket-sized unit that is sufficient to give a charge to cell phones and kindles. That works for me because it gives me a way to keep my phone and kindle charged pretty much indefinitely even in an extended power outage or when traveling/in the field.

Camping Gear. We also exploited our annual 20% off REI dividends. Heather scored a nice daypack, snow adapters for her trekking poles, and a set of nice toe-style running shoes. I picked up a bear-proof food container, a warm weather double sleeping bag, and some basic camp furniture for car camping type use (stool, seat, etc).

Food. With the weather getting nicer I was in the mood for grilling. We picked up a simple propane grill. Our charcoal grill was decommissioned upon moving, and our other grill is an awesome Traeger smoker, which is great but requires electricity. The propane grill gives us a nice option for cooking that isn't electric reliant, especially as our stovetop in the new house is electric and not gas. We picked up a fresh case of MREs as well as our old ones are getting a bit long in the tooth. We'll start using up the old ones with camping trips and donate whatever's left around Christmas time.

Shooting Gear. I ordered a case of 5.56 and a case of .40 to bolster the supplies already in storage.

I also got both the Ruger 10/22s upgraded for the next Appleseed. Mine is now sporting nice iron sights and Heather's got the needed trigger job and magazine release. So we basically have two very shootable 10/22s, one with irons and one with a 4x optic. Sweet.

Heather got her 30-06 rigged out with USGI cloth sling as well as appropriate sling swivels.

Finally, I configured my "bump in the night" rig. At our last place I had grab-and-go tactical pants loaded up. Here I just have an ALICE-style pistol belt with 1xBeretta, 1xSureFire, 1xpistol reload, and 2xPMAGs for the AR. This didn't require me to buy anything, but I did find my SureFire which was lost. The pistol belt is nice as you can just strap it on over whatever you wore to bed.

COMMUNICATIONS

We got our Personal Locator Beacon registered with NOAA, the Coast Guard, and various other rescue agencies. The PLB was a very generous gift from family for Christmas. I think they make a lot of sense for folks who do lots of outdoor activities. I also see it being useful in an emergency situation where the phones aren't working or where the phone network is overloaded.

I also got a VHF Marine Band radio ordered. It is primarily for our trip to Kodiak but once that arrives we'll have access to landline, PLB, cell phone, UHF, and now VHF.

Finally, I ordered an inexpensive shortwave radio. We'll see how it works.

Whew -- that was long but we've been busy and this covered two weeks.

Kodiak Shooting

If you haven't heard yet, a few days ago two Coasties were found dead on the Kodiak station.  Released information indicates a double homicide.  Of course, this is Unpossible, because military installations are magic gun-free zones.

The FBI says that they believe the shooter to still be alive and no suspects are in custody, but they also say that there is no risk to community members.  I'm not sure how those two statements work together, unless they believe the shooter is off-island by now.  Whatever the case is, hopefully they are able to find answers in this case.  Meanwhile, we'll be a little more alert later this week when we're wandering around town.

We don't have anywhere near enough information at this point in time to speculate, but I wonder if this sad story might have had a different ending if we trusted our military members to carry firearms...

45-70 update: Leupold Scout Scope and Buffalo Bore

Over the last two weeks I've put in some good range time with my Marlin 1895 in 45-70 as we prepare for our Kodiak grizzly hunt. Most of the shooting has been with Hornady Leverolution ammo. I was able to get it for a somewhat more reasonable price (for 45-70, at least) and it kicks more like a pony than a mule so it seemed more reasonable as a practice load. I've applied what I learned at Appleseed and was holding pretty good groups with the irons (4-5 MOA or so with the big peep sight) and excellent groups with my Leupold 2.5X IER scout scope (1-2 MOA) at 100 yards (furthest our local range goes).

Today was final zeroing with hunting ammo from the bench. For this trip I've selected Buffalo Bore's 350 grain JFN. I contacted Buffalo Bore to get their advice and Mr. Sundles himself got back to me within 48 hours. The choice was pretty much between their 350 gr JFN penetrator, the 430 gr hard cast, and a 500 gr FMJ-FN. Normally I like to shoot something heavy for caliber, but in this case I wanted a lighter bullet with slightly better ballistics based on the 45-70 (the drop on the 350 is a bit of a flatter rainbow than the 430) and I wanted something that would be more versatile for hog hunting after the grizz trip. Mr. Sundles personally has used the 350 gr on grizzlies with good effects and there are lots of positive reviews so I opted for the lighter round. It should still get 4' of penetration (vs. 5-6' in the heavier rounds).

My Hornady (325 gr @ 2050 FPS box placard for 3032 ft/lbs) was printing about 5" high at 100 yards: right where I wanted it, basically. It was a hot day so I figured the POI will come down 1-2" on Kodiak at 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The Buffalo Bore (350 gr @ 2060 FPS for 3426 ft/lbs) printed a whopping 13" high at 100 yards. This was confirmed with solid three shot groups from each round at the bench, with each group being about the size of a silver dollar (most of the holes were touching; the Hornady had a bit of lateral stringing from bad trigger control and the Buffalo Bore had one shot that was about 1" high and right, my fault again). But with groups the size I was making I felt comfortable making sight adjustments.

I expected the Buffalo Bore to be a bit higher but not that high. After all, the Hornady's much vaunted "Leverolution" bullet design is supposed to create flatter trajectories, right? However, when I dug into the Hornady velocity numbers, they assume a 24" barrel. The Buffalo Bore number is for an 18.5" barrel, like my 1895GS. So I suspect that the Hornady is really going at least 200 FPS slower than the Buffalo Bore. Looks like muzzle velocity, not magic polymer spitzer bullet design, is still the key, at least within 100 yards or so.

In any event, we got the Leupold dialed in quickly. I cranked it down 34 clicks (34 x 0.25" 1/4 MOA adjustments = 8.5") and the Buffalo Bore went right where it needed. Everything was printing about 0.5 MOA left so I cranked it over two clicks right, but that overcorrected, so I settled back one click to the left to split the difference. Bam, right where it needs to be.

At this point I feel really comfortable with the optic out to 200 yards. I could probably be effective further but without having shot on a known distance range out to those ranges it is hard to just trust the ballistics table, especially for something like the 45-70 which is really more of a rainbow trajectory. I feel comfortable with the irons out to 100 yards, just based on the larger groups I was getting with the huge aperture ghost ring sight from field shooting positions. Still, if it comes to using the back up irons or wading into the alders after a bear I think the irons will do just fine.

I am really impressed with the rifle/optic combination. The rifle was shooting around 1 MOA from the bench. Maybe even sub-MOA on some groups. To be fair I had Wild West Guns in Anchorage do some custom work on the rifle (bead blasting, trigger job, lever job), but I wouldn't expect that to really do much for accuracy so this is just Marlin quality. If I do my part, I feel confident that this rifle/load/optic will do its part.

Firearms Importation Part 4

To wrap up this series, I dug around for some information about the policy in Canada at the border now that the Long Gun Registry is dead.

Here's the new policy (PDF warning), courtesy of another blogger.

Canada still requires a firearms registration certificate at the border with a $25 fee. Restricted firearms still require an ATT. There are still some fairly onerous requirements for transport and storage. On the pro side, it looks like prior approval is no longer required.

So, even though the long gun registry is dead, there is progress to be made on both sides of the border. I personally plan on writing my Alaska Senators and Representative and highlighting issues with ATF interpretation of 922 section Y. The problem with fixing issues like this is that there's no real natural constituency for foreigners. They don't vote, so politicians are not inclined to be responsive to their concerns.

Firearms Importation Part 3

Over the last two days I looked at the policies for nonresidents bringing firearms into the US. I figured I'd wrap it up with a quick pro con as compared to the now-defunct Canadian firearms registry.

PROS OF THE US POLICY

• Once you're in, you're in. For example, the state of Alaska could care less that you're a non-resident and that you have no plans to go hunting. A Canuck could open carry your Glock 19 down the streets of Anchorage with nothing more than a $20 hunting license (not even required as far as Alaska is concerned). In most states, transport and storage regulations are far looser than those in Canada.
• Lower fees. You can work the 6NIA process for $20 for an unlimited number of firearms (the cost of an AK hunting license). After all, ATF doesn't care what state you're going to and what state your hunting license is from.
• Form can be processed in advance. While customs officers have discretion as always, I got the impression with Canada that they could and WOULD just turn me away at the border and refuse to register the weapon. This was honestly my biggest concern: I didn't want to get stuck at the border without permission to enter. At least ATF lets you process the paperwork ahead of time.

CONS

• It is still stupid. Do we really think that terrorists like those on 9/11 will register their weapons with ATF? Heck, even if they DO register their weapons with ATF, what's it matter? I'm pretty sure that if the 9/11 hijackers could go to flight school, they can probably qualify for a hunting license. What is this policy supposed to accomplish?
• Time frame. ATF says it will take 8-10 weeks to process. That's probably optimistic.

So, our friend from Alberta is correct in pointing out that US policy post-9/11 is just about as inhospitable as Canadian policy was and remains, even in the post long gun ban era. More on that in Part 4 tomorrow.

Firearms Importation Part 2

Yesterday I discussed the regs for nonresident aliens bringing firearms into the US. It appears that there is a clear statutory exemption for such aliens to bring a weapon into the US if they have a hunting license from any state or an invite to a competition.

But wait! Laws are for The People to follow, not for The ATF.

Recent changes in BATF regulations require nonimmigrant aliens to have an approved import license to bring firearms or ammunition into the United States. Although the text of the regulations states that persons engaged in hunting and competition shooting have an exemption from the licensing requirement, recent information from the BATF indicates that they are using their regulatory authority to override this exemption and require an approved import permit of all visitors.

BATF seems to view the import form as a way of verifying that visitors to the country really do fall within the exemptions outlined in the law.

Source: USPSA

So, even if you fall into a statutory exemption (i.e., get an Alaska hunting license for $20) ATF has made up some additional rules to justify their paperwork hurdle.

Here's what Alaska has to say about the matter:

Federal Requirement for Aliens Bringing Guns into the United States

The U.S. Department of Justice/Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) requires nonimmigrant aliens temporarily importing firearms and ammunition into the United States to submit ATF Form 6NIA (5330.3D), in order to obtain an ATF firearm import permit. This permit application must be submitted well in advance of your trip. If you have any questions about this new regulation, please contact ATF.

The form and instruction on how to submit it can be found by calling ATF at 202-927-8320 or downloading the application (form number 5330.3D under the Forms tab) from the ATF website at: http://www.atf.gov.

In order to submit this form, unless meeting other qualifications listed on the form, you must buy a hunting license. Then you must send a copy of the license with the form when you submit it. You will need the importation permit they issue and the hunting license in order to clear US Customs when you arrive in the United States.

You can find more information about importing your firearm into the United States at:http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/.

If you plan to just carry the gun while traveling in Alaska for wildlife protection and not to hunt, the least expensive hunting license you can purchase is a non-resident small game license for $20. You can purchase a license on-line at https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=license.fgstore.

Please remember that a hunting license is not required to carry the handgun in Alaska, it is required to apply for an importation permit from ATF and then to import it through US Customs. You can find all the regulations about carrying an unconcealed or concealed handgun in Alaska athttp://www.dps.alaska.gov/Statewide/PermitsLicensing/concealedhandguns.aspx. There is no restriction in Alaska as to what type of handgun can be used with a small game license.

Hoarding

Tam over at Bikes & Boomsticks has some pretty harsh comments for those stocking up and resulting in, erm, seasonal shortages on ammunition and such.

Then why in the name of Mars Pater did you wait 'til now to stock up?!?

You were around during the circus that was gun shows after Election '08 and you're just now waiting to stock up on magazines and buy that extra AR? You experienced the Big Ammo Drought and you've allowed your reserves to drop so low that you feel compelled to go make a panic purchase? We all know what this does to prices and availability. We've been here before.

I just ordered up an extra case of .40 and 5.56. So I guess I'm a bit guilty. While prices are somewhat high now, I just have the feeling that prices are going to go up more before they go down again. We got into the shooting sports at the height of the last craze/shortage, so I know how bad it can be. It can be tough to stock up though after a move. We hauled as much ammo as possible but the car was pretty packed. So we've been rebuilding. We wanted to wait for our finances to stabilize after moving before dropping the dough on large ammo purchases.

We've also been taking classes and hitting the range occasionally. While I did get some fairly good deals from AimSurplus on 5.56 when they had it in stock, I burned through a lot at Front Sight. Likewise, Heather went through a fair amount of .40 SW at 4-day pistol. It is tough to stockpile when there's a substantial flow going out of storage.

Still, we have managed to establish a spare case of .40, 1.5 cases of 5.56 (a mix of surplus M197 and SS109), two spare bricks of .22, a dozen boxes of 30-06, and a spare set of mags worth of premium ammo. Whenever we go shooting it does not touch the reserves. We have enough on hand to go to a few good classes, do plenty of recreational shooting, etc without touching the reserve. I have a lot less in reserve for the less commonly used calibers but still, I have enough for immediate needs without having to go shopping. It is really nice to just hop out to the ammo storage, break open an ammo can, and pull out a few boxes for the range.

We also have a decent reserve of all of our hunting ammo, and I feel comfortable that I could put together a hunting trip for any sort of North American game without having to go shopping for ammo.

I have been better about stocking up on mags. At one point we sat down and ordered a dozen M&P mags or so, so I'd say we have around 20+ mags. I've also been picking up a PMAG or two for the AR every time I do a web order and now have a pretty good stock, as well as a decent stock of assorted GI and thermold mags. I've got a few AK mags and also bought two dozen G3 mags at $2 each. I don't have a G3 but hey, at some point I might pick up an AR-10 or a G3. At $2 each why not get a few?

I'm getting to the point where I think you're serious about shooting if you have a deeper ammo locker than gun safe.

Firearms Importation Part 1

Don from Alberta challenged me to look into the issue of Canadians bringing firearms into the US. I was aware that it was an issue as there's been a thread on the AK Outdoors Forums about a Canuck that wants to bring a weapon to Alaska; you need some fed gov permits and a hunting license.

So I did some more digging, and it turns out that our own rules for firearms importation in the US are ridiculous.

Here's the ATF statement:

Effective February 19, 2002, ATF requires nonimmigrant visitors entering the U.S. with firearms or ammunition to obtain a federal permit through ATF in advance of their arrival. U.S. law also forbids certain nonimmigrant visitors, workers and students from buying guns and ammunition in the U.S. Diplomats, foreign law enforcement officials and visiting dignitaries designated by the U.S. Department of State are not exempt from this requirement when bringing a gun for hunting purposes.

You will need to obtain and complete ATF Form 6NIA (5330.3D Application/Permit for Temporary Importation of Firearms and Ammunition by Nonimmigrant Aliens) to apply for the ATF permit. You will also be required to obtain a license from any state in the U.S. where you intend to hunt. Please note that you may fax the ATF Form 6 NIA-5330.3D application to (304) 616-4554 for expedited processing

When you look at the form, it is just about as bad as the Canadian forms. Heck, you even need to log your ammunition. The form instructions say it takes 8-10 weeks for ATF to process. Crazy.

However, I did check into the instructions. One of them states:

Generally, a non-resident alien transiting the United States with a firearm does not require an ATF Form 6NIA or a DSP-61 issued by the State Department. If you will be in physical possession of your firearm, however, you will need to meet one of the exceptions outlined at 18 USC 922(y).

So then I dove into 18 USC 922(y), and found:

(2) Exceptions. - Subsections (d)(5)(B), (g)(5)(B), and (s)(3)(B)(v)(II) do not apply to any alien who has been lawfully admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa, if that alien is - (A) admitted to the United States for lawful hunting or sporting purposes or is in possession of a hunting license or permit lawfully issued in the United States; 

So it looks like a Canadian visiting the US needs to either (A) get the stupid ATF 6 NIA form completed or (B) have a hunting license in their possession. The other ATF instructions also indicate that proof of registration for a sporting competition would also qualify but I did not find that in the instructions.

At first glance, it appears that if you've got a hunting license or proof that you're engaging in a sporting activity, you're good. So, pick up a hunting license or register for an Appleseed and no ATF intervention needed.

But, wait before you do so... for part 2.

Quote of the Day: I don't know the law, nor do I care!

“The laws are not the kind of laws a civilized society should have and the [National Rifle Association] should be ashamed of themselves,” Bloomberg, a leading gun-control advocate, said at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

“Plain and simple, this is just trying to give people a license to murder,” he added of the Stand Your Ground laws.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75043.html#ixzz1rm6uozI6

Clearly, King Bloomberg is unaware that his own "civilized" mecca of New York has the same identical self-defense law with regards to standing one's ground as the barbarian hinterlands of Florida do.

Of course, he claimed it must be illegal to advertise a bounty on someone like the Black Panthers did. While I'm not a fan of contract killing, I think one could argue that the Black Panthers were on the correct side of the line when it comes to Constitutionally protected speech. Then again, I don't suppose he's a strong supporter of the first Amendment, either.

Don't Text and Walk

You might get eaten by a bear.

Ooops.

Shaguyik - and as I write this post, I realized that I somehow did not get any pictures of her last time I was at the AWCC, what was I thinking? - has made a break for it!  The electric fence was turned off last Tuesday for maintenance, which was just the opportunity that Shaguyik needed.  The bear is still on the lam, despite aerial searches being conducted.  Perhaps Shaguyik was not so keen on being transferred to Sweden later this summer.

In all seriousness, the AWCC is a fine establishment that we are happy to support.  They do excellent work rehabilitating rescued animals and finding homes for those that cannot be returned to the wild, like Shaguyik.  Their enclosures are large and designed more for the animal's comfort than human's viewing pleasure.  Hopefully they find Shaguyik soon!

Gun-dar Fail

So Chris stops home to pick me up to go to lunch.  "How do I look," I ask him, referring not to my super stylish Appleseed shirt but rather to how my firearm is printing beneath said shirt.  "You're printing," he says, "But it's okay, no one here notices anyway."  So we hop in the car and head to Chik Fil A (which is the sole redeeming quality this place has, according to Chris).  Along with what looks to be the entire police department.  There's a long line, and we were standing in it for 5-10 minutes, LEOs in front and behind us, me sporting an Appleseed shirt that is printing my gun quite nicely, discussing the SERPA holsters some of the LEOs were wearing.

No one noticed.

QOTD: COHA on Canada and Fast & Furious

Some moonbat think-tank, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, opined about "lax policies up north" with the death of the Canadian long gun registry in late 2011. I came across their article while searching for stuff about the more recent repeal of said registry. Their final argument at the end of the op-ed:

The removal of the national registry is another example of the government’s flippant attitude towards gun control policy. No one denies that the spread of arms throughout the hemisphere poses a huge threat to international security. The recent “Operation Fast and Furious” scandal in Mexico proves that mismanagement of firearm practices in developed countries presents serious consequences for developing or underdeveloped nations. If guns are made more readily available in Canada, the proliferation of these arms to other, more retrogressive nations that can be dominated by criminal activity becomes even easier. While many long-range weapons to be found within the registry are used for game or sport, the deconstruction of the national registry is a step in a decidedly right-wing direction. The consequences of cavalier ownership and the provision of weapons unchecked by the government could prove catastrophic for Canada and the entire hemisphere.

Are you kidding me? Fast and Furious was about the US Government aiding and abetting drug cartels in their efforts to purchase weapons in the United States, in some cases, using US taxpayer money to fund such weapons acquisitions.

Killing the Canadian long gun registry is about stopping harassment of law abiding Canadians and tourists and stopping burning $100/million per year (enough dough to pay for the salaries of about 1500 more law enforcement agents, who would doubtless have more impact on illicit activity than the useless registry) . Even the mounties admit that 98% of homicides DON'T involve weapon from the registry, and they also admit that illegally trafficked guns -- in theory the ones that COHA are wetting themselves over -- never make it into the registry in the first place.

I just can't believe how Fast and Furious is being shoe-horned in to this debate. If anything, F&F demonstrates that the agency to be LEAST trusted with control of firearms is the national government. The US government is probably the largest single supplier of arms from the US to Mexican cartels, after all.

Great Northern Guns vs. ATF

Unconfirmed web forum reporting indicates GNG has been asked by ATF to turn over complete copy of their bound books.

We bought our first rifle from GNG. They're good folks. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Prohibited Person Roundup

I've been negligent in addressing our local antigun-nut's wailings of late and figured I'd get caught up.

Here's a summary of February through present:

• Man in Brevig Mission shoots 30-06 at inhabited dwelling. Gwen missed that the man in question was drunk and has a record of criminal arrests as long as my arm. Here's the arrest record for the night in question. When you look at the other arrests you'll find felony assault, more assault, domestic violence, attempted murder 1, grand theft auto, sexual assault, more DV, felonies and misdemeanors involving booze, and yet more DV as recent as 2010. Does it sound like this man, who is almost certainly a prohibited person who cannot legally touch a weapon, suddenly "snapped?"
• Man in Fairbanks borrows a pistol and shoots his dogs while drunk. Gwen blames NRA training. Somehow I missed the lesson on how to shoot my pets while drunk in NRA Basic Pistol; in fact, I seem to recall that they taught me to never handle guns while drunk. Anyways, a quick review of the rap sheets indicates that this guy had to borrow a gun because he's probably a prohibited person who can't pass the background check to buy one. Nor could he legally borrow one, but I guess a guy who has multiple domestic violence incidents, at least two felonies, and a long string of assault charges probably can't be bothered to follow the law.
• Man in Fairbanks calls the cops to report a home invasion. SWAT finds no evidence of home invaders, but the homeowner is blitzed, has been shot in the arm, and jumps out a window. What kind of guy does that? Oh, wait, a prohibited person with numerous incidents of DV as well as a stack of misdemeanors. The DV would make him a prohibited person.
• A man in Anchored hired some hookers, then three large beefy men showed up in the same vehicle and robbed him in his hotel room. They used a gun in the hold up.
  

  "Two of the suspects were described as a male, 6 feet, 2 inches and 330 pounds and a male, 6 feet, 2 inches and 290 to 300 pounds. The victim did not offer a description of the third suspect."
  

  Guess what? In a world without firearms, if I were to bet on the outcome between three dudes who are built like linebackers and a lone defender, I know where the smart money is going. Gwen is basically advocating a rule of the jungle where the physically strong can take what they want from the physically weaker or the outnumbered. That sounds kind of medieval. Oh, yeah -- don't get involved with illicit activity like drugs or prostitution and you're probably less likely to be held up, too.

So that's the round up from Gwen's corner of the interwebs. Every single incident with a named perp that she brought up involved a prohibited person. For some reason all of her desired gun control efforts already in effect have utterly failed. Yet her answer is to try harder, and to disarm lone defenders.

Election Year

Any Alaska readers will doubtless be familiar with Tundra Comics.  If you aren't familiar, go check them out!

The ADN and SYG

As is to be expected, the ADN is not generally in approval of Stand Your Ground laws.  With the Martin incident and the fact that SYG is currently up before the Alaska legislature, there have been a lot of articles lately.  This one taken from the Washington Post and posted by ADN I found to be pretty hilarious.

In an example of Journalistic Integrity, the very first paragraph sets the scene by describing a self defense shooting in Florida, all word choice chosen to make one think that the homeowner was far out of line, shooting a defenseless person who posed no threat, and was not prosecuted due to SYG.

Of course, later in the article they get into more detail about this particular incident, and - go figure - it turns out the young man who got shot did not simply ring a doorbell in the middle of the night only to be met by a bullet.  In fact, this was the second time he had been to this house (being too drunk to notice the difference) and refused multiple times to leave, and then started towards the homeowner.

Bit different from the first paragraph in the article, eh?

The article also tries to convince us that SYG laws are a "sharp turn in American law" that began in Florida in 2005."  Sometimes I wonder what world these people live in.

Another particularly excellent quote comes from the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys: ""It's almost like we now have to prove a negative -- that a person was not acting in self-defense, often on the basis of only one witness, the shooter," said Steven Jansen, the group's vice president."

Gee, isn't that the whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing?  Or is that passe these days?

e he had been to this house (being too drunk to notice the difference) and refused multiple times to leave, and then starte
Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/04/08/2412644/justifiable-homicides-increasing.html#storylink=cpy

Maybe it is time to consider trips to Canada again

While the long gun registry was in effect I had absolutely zero desire to go on a hunting trip to Canada. Sure, its close to Alaska, there are some great opportunities, etc -- but the registry is a huge freaking pain in the neck.

When I drove across a little spit of Canada to get to the Alaska Ferry in Haines I researched the requirements and found that even the less-restricted long-guns require expensive and time consuming registration. The authorities can deny you registration for arbitrary and capricious reasons at the border or port of entry, which would sure put a damper on a trip. So I just chose to not bring firearms, and I also chose not to tarry in Canada or spend any money there.

The non-compliance rate among Canadians with regard to the long gun registry was very high (heck, not even all the police registered their firearms) so basically the law applied primarily to visiting tourists who could be detained at the border and forced to jump through the hoops.

As the mounties themselves reported:

Originally, when the CFP was implemented, quality assurance issues arose with respect to the accuracy of the information that was entered into the system... The error rate has been halved from 2 per cent to 1 per cent [Comment: so there are at least 70,000 erroneous records in the system.. very comforting!]. Second, not all firearms have been registered, and owing to repeated long-gun registration amnesties (2006-2010) [Comment: I thought the latest was through 2013], information is not consistently entered into the CFP database.. There some confusion surrounding the responsibilities of licensed owners to have their firearms registered, however, currently the law stipulates that they must continue to register their firearms. Lastly, many firearms that are being procured specifically to be used for illegal activities are never entered into the system.

Think about it: About 7 million registered long arms from 6.4 million registered owners, but estimated non-compliance rates of up to 70%... That means upwards of tens of millions of unaccounted for long arms after almost two decades of trying. Canada Shooting Sports estimates at least 20 million long guns in the country, for example. So while the majority of Canadian gunowners apparently scoffed the registry and were permitted to due to never-ending amnesty, dangerous American hunters at the borders who might dare to spend money in Canada on guides, lodging, food, gasoline, etc were harassed by an arbitrary, expensive, and thoroughly useless process.

It is happy news to hear that Canadians are finally choosing through their elected representatives to scrap the useless, ineffective, and expensive long gun registry and stop burning their money to the tune of $100 million/year on the boondoggle.

On my last trip through Canada I went so far as to plan the trip without needing an overnight stop and I brought my own gas. We did stop for ice cream and snacks in a small Canadian town but that was the only money I spent in the country. We could not bring any of our long guns with us due to the hassle so I was not tempted to tarry and go on a hunting trip; instead we pressed on down to the lower 48 for some vacation in the American Northwest.

Apparently I am not the only one that felt that way:

As of January 2001, with a new personal firearms-import form, a new $50 visitor license fee, and a police records check, Canada also became a hostile tourist destination for thousands of U.S. hunters or competition shooters bringing their own guns. As a result, many tourist-dependent northern hunting-fishing lodges are now suffering financially or have closed. Unlike in the U.S., even antique-reproduction muzzle-loading muskets are classed as firearms in Canada, and now require owner-licensing and registration. The new regulation and fee had already, in 2001 and 2002, caused many cancellations by visiting American Civil War historical re-enactment groups, and will likely end Canadian visits and demonstrations. 26

...Outdoor sports magazines are suffering as American and European gun and ammunition makers decide the shrinking Canadian market no longer justifies their advertising costs...

Trying to assess the total negative economic impact of the Firearms Act is like trying to estimate the number of guns in Canada. Again, there are no reliable figures, but both domestically and from lost U.S. hunter tourism, the writer would guess a loss so far of at least $4 to $5 billion in shooting sports business activity.

With the repeal of the long gun registry, I -- and other American tourists and sportsman -- might be tempted to spend some time in Canada, along with some money. This can only be good for rural Canada. It might also help ease issues on the American side of the border for Canadians; if we visit Canada and interact with Canadians, we're more likely to get a sense for the post 9/11 stupidity the American government imposes on Canadians that want to spend tourist dollars here.

Anchorage Election Ooops

So at last Tuesday's local election, more than 40% of precincts ran out of ballots.

Ooops.

Additionally, before these places ran out of ballots, the number of questioned ballots was already five times last years number.

Someone messed up pretty good this time.

Of course, with this mess, everyone who didn't think the election went the direction they wanted it to is calling it a conspiracy to throw the election.  That doesn't seem likely to me, as the two most controversial issues were decided by a wider margin than seems to be an issue with the missing and questioned ballots.

Someone, somewhere might be making meth

So I can no longer buy PolarPure.

For those who don't know, PolarPure is a water purification treatment method that uses iodine. It is safe and effective. It has been my favored method of water purification for backpacking and camping trips for years.

It turns out that apparently iodine is used to make meth, though, so the State of California and the DEA are shutting down the small business, based in America that makes it.

The company is asking folks to write CA and the DEA. I hope they are successful and get back into operation but for now it looks like safe, affordable, easy to use water purification is the next victim in the asinine drug war. It looks like I am stuck with stupid Portable Aqua tablets which taste bad, run out and are orders of magnitude more expensive, unlike PolarPure which effectively lasts forever.

Flying Dutchman in Gulf of Alaska

Abandoned fishing trawler sunk by the US Coast Guard, after a Canadian boarding team was repelled.

Well, not quite that dramatic. A 60-something foot Canadian vessel tried to take the vessel under tow as salvage but couldn't hack it.

It must keep all your brains inside

Apparently ear protection is also effective at keeping you from being an idiot with a firearm. I'd say about 80% of the doofuses on this video weren't wearing ear or eye pro.

Video from SayUncle of stupid gun handling.

The Deep South, CWPs, and "Those People"

Today I went in to get fingerprinted for a CWP from a state in the deep south. My Alaska permit is honored down here, technically, but I kind of want a local permit to (A) avoid trouble with the local-yokel police, who seem unaware that anything exists outside the borders of their own state and (B) to avoid problems with the Federal Gun Free School Zones Act, because ATF has declared it does not honor reciprocity.

The lady who took my fingerprints at the sheriff's office for the mandatory print card seemed nice at first. I was just there to get my prints taken but she wanted to talk. At one point the issue of CWPs came up. I have a lot of disdain for the process down here for many reasons, but was polite and merely brought up that in Alaska we have "Alaska" or "Constitutional Carry" with no permit required.

She seemed alarmed, ventured that it was because Alaska was all"wilderness and frontier." I replied that it was actually a recent liberalization of the law in 2003, not a holdover from the gold rush days, and that it also applied in Anchorage (which is a bigger city than the town of BumFudgeVille, Deep South, by the way). She then wondered how it worked out.

I asked, "So, what was the concern prior to your state passing a shall-issue CWP law?"

She replied, "Oh, it was hysteria. Everyone thought there'd by crime all over and shootings in the street."

I asked back, "And what's happened?"

"We've had no problems," she said. "Not a single one."

I said it worked out pretty much that way in Alaska, too. The perps who unlawfully use firearms to commit crimes, as Gwen likes to point out for us, are almost always prohibited persons who can't legally touch a gun and who wouldn't qualify for a permit if they bothered to apply (which they wouldn't).

Finally, as we got to the third (!!!) fingerprint card, the real crux of her concerns came up. "Well, how do you keep those people from having guns?" asked the lady.

"Those people? Who do you mean? Its still illegal for felons and criminals to carry guns. Do you mean poor people who can't afford your fees down here?" I asked back.

"No, they're not all poor... you know, those people." she said, with strong emphasis. I was flabbergasted. I mean, I have a strong suspicion as to what she was hinting at but couldn't believe that here, a law enforcement agency employee, was actively telling me that she disapproved of certain minority groups exercising their civil and constitutional rights. I felt like it was right out of an old movie or a tired internet post stereotype. Yet there it was right in front of me. I shut it down immediately by saying something like, "Well, if someone's not a criminal, I think they have civil rights regardless of the color of their skin." I was so flabbergasted that I wasn't quite that eloquent but that was the bottom line. She blushed at being called out and changed the subject.

According to newspaper figures from down here in 2008, about 10% of CWPs were issued to individuals who identified themselves as African-American, even though over a quarter of the population is black according to census data. That is, African Americans are far less likely to have CWPs down here that whites. Maybe things have changed since 2008 but I kind of doubt it. With attitudes like the one being displayed by the white "public servant" it isn't a surprise why. I have a feeling my experience at the sheriff's office might have been a bit different had my skin tone been different. This isn't a huge surprise given the racist history of gun control laws in general but it is disheartening to see such prejudices in play today.

She was also concerned about NRA instructors providing training that made it too easy to get CWPs. She thought only off-duty cops should be doing it, so they "can make a little extra money." I then pointed out that my wife was an NRA instructor and focused on providing affordable training to other women, including home firearms safety (not just CWP stuff). I made the point that training shouldn't be about money for the instructor, it should be about providing accessible training to students who need knowledge to be safer. Then I left.

Heather and I have just started saying, "This place... These people..." when we come across the dysfunctionality of cultural life down here. And we don't mean it like that woman meant "those people" -- we're referring to culture which seems to pervade across many demographics down here that celebrates highlighting and demonizing "the other," leads to 50/50 high school dropout/graduation rates, and covers deep seated prejudices with that sugary sweet polite southern demeanor. I mean, Alaska has some issues with a racist history as well. You don't have to look far. But it didn't seem as obvious and pervasive as it is in the Deep South.

I'm not saying that everyone in the Deep South has those attitudes. We have met lots of very nice, generous, and friendly people here, in Texas, in Alabama, in Virginia (not so deep south I guess), and in other places in the south we've lived/visited. Just like everywhere, the majority of folks are probably neighborly and relatively fairminded, and it is an obnoxious offensive minority that gets your attention. However, the attitudes are common enough to make me uncomfortable.

On the Teaching Front

Now that I officially have my RSO certification, I've been looking harder into finally teaching an NRA course.  I have several ladies who are interested in taking the NRA First Steps pistol course.  The problem became finding a range to use.  We pursued several different avenues before finally finding one option.  I can only use it from 8-12 on Sundays which might be a problem given the fact that many people around here don't want to skip church, but right now it's the only option.  The gentleman who runs the range actually seemed quite excited and wants his wife to take the class as well.  I don't think there are many female instructors in the area!  Of course, next weekend is out because of Easter and the weekend after is out for other reasons, and then we'll be on the Kodiak trip, but hopefully I will be able to run my first official course in May.