Gee, I wonder how come it did not work.
Proving once more that the Strawberry Shortcake Magical Force Fields called Gun Free Zones failed to do their intended jobs.
But it is the thought that counts. …the bodies.
A case for more training and “High Capacity” Magazines.
Very educational video.
KXAN reports Officer Shane Cunningham responded to a burglary call in August 2013 when suspects Miguel Macias and Austin James Hanlon rammed their vehicle into the officer’s patrol car.
Macias, who was behind the wheel, had pushed the officer’s cruiser back with his vehicle until it hit a tree and stopped, according to KVUE.
Officer Cunningham, in fear for his life, fired 15 rounds into the car after commanding Macias and Hanlon to put their hands up multiple times.
Macias was struck five times by the officer’s gunfire — including once in the head.
Macias is currently on trial for aggravated assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon and burglary charges.
via Video: Austin cop opens fire on man ramming cruiser.
1) Moving targets suck. Yes, it was a slow-moving target but it was moving.
2) Adrenalin dump sucks. First shot was high, second was low and after that the officer seemed to find Goldilocks with some shots touching each other.
3) Glass sucks. Specially windshields shot at such weird angle. Bullet deflection definitely had something to do with Macias still breathing and on trial.
4) Pistol Caliber bullets suck. And no, even if he had a .45, the target would have not died in a very high probability. Windshields will deflect most medium and high-powered rifle bullets too. Which leads us to…
5) Not having a lot of BBs suck. Have enough magazines with lots of ammo makes a lot of sense.
According to the article, the officer shot 15 rounds. Austin PD’s official sidearm is the Smith & Wesson M&P .40 (although they are allowed to carry other guns selected under certain circumstances and from a not very long list) . The M&P comes with a 15 round magazine so we might say that the officer emptied his sidearm and had to go to reload. So lesson #1, practice your reloads a lot and stay on target! Even shot, the suspect was able to get out of the car in a very nimble fashion.
As for shooting through glass & specially windshields? Now that is a toughie to train for. Your average Joe does not have an ample supply of windshields or even a short supply. And there are videos out there, but they seem all to be shooting straight in front of the windshield (Bullets drop some after going through) but on weird angles like this, I could not find anything.
One to scratch our head for and figure out how to deal with it.
Light Blogging.
Gonna be occupied with some family stuff, so don’t expect but an occasional thing here and there.
In the meantime: Elephant Gun.
My opinion on Taurus The Curve: A gauntlet has been thrown.
Let’s start with a disclaimer..or claimer: I have changed this post (and my mind) three times since I originally wrote it.
It seems everybody is having fits and conniptions about The Curve…and the thing is indeed ugly as in “Not the Traditional Look.”
It looks like a shrunken version of Judge Dredd’s Lawgiver.
And it is well…curved…no sights….
But here is the thing: I have come around from my initial impression of “What the frakking frak?” to thinking the gun’s concept is genius. First, Taurus has dared to defy Gun Manufacturers by producing a gun that has a light and a laser…and a retail price of under $400. That has to have rattled more than one cage in some traditional gun headquarters.
Second, it does look like a shrunken version of Judge Dredd’s Lawgiver. Hell, it looks like them fantasy guns you see in modern video games…and ladies and gentleman, that is the hook. This is the first gun designed for Gun Culture 2.0, the one with the tats, piercings and taking on without fear the forces of Evil Gamergaters and other Social Justice Warriors.
If this thing goes ‘bang” every time and has no major issues, I expect Taurus to sell this thing like there is no tomorrow. We might be seeing The Judge part 2. The Fudd among us will still cringe at the thought of being seen holding and shooting one of these babies, but it was not that long ago (OK it has been) that the idea of shooting an European gun made of plastic and not based on the designs of John Moses Browning was enough to send you to solitary confinement at your local range.
Since I am not in the Cool Gun Bloggers Circuit, I am going to wait till one of the local gun ranges have one for rental to try it out after it is released. And might be too early to start asking Taurus for a Curve in 9mm?
I might be wrong, but I have the feeling we are gonna see some weird-looking guns come SHOT Show 2016-17.
Musings from a past life.
I’d have killed a small army of nuns in order to have the chance to record a voice like this on a regular basis. Ask any Recording Engineer and will tell you the same:
But reality is usually this:
Some days I miss it…. Most I don’t.
Dear singers: If your engineer is sitting back with eyes closed and a smile on his face (without any medication) you are good. If he is not….
Seriously bad target selection process
The Justice for Mike Brown Ferguson protest group released its list of potential targets following the decision by the St. Louis County Courthouse on the Mike Brown case.
The published map shows expected landmarks like the Ferguson City Hall and the County Courthouse.
But it also marks things that have NOTHING to do with the Michael Brown situation, like Anheuser Busch and Boeing
On the list, one company that we in the Gun Community know by heart: Olin Corporation.
Talk about a bunny with fangs…
Florida poised to let hunters use silencers. Gun Control Activist freaks out.
[As]he tiptoed through the woods in pursuit of a rabbit, Elmer J. Fudd was cautious to be “vewy, vewy quiet.”
The Looney Tunes sportsman might like what Florida hunting officials might do this week.
When the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission meets Thursday in Key Largo, the state’s rule-makers for hunters and anglers are expected to lift a 57-year-old ban on silencers, noise-suppressing devices that can be attached to the barrel of a rifle or pistol to muffle the “bang.”
Opponents think silencing guns near homes is a bad idea and will endanger lives.
via Florida poised to let hunters use silencers – Orlando Sentinel.
Hunting with silencers has been re-introduced in several states now and the gloom-and-doom predictions of the gun control activists have not come to pass.
And even though the article does a slight-of-writing trick and associates silencers with the mobster wars of Prohibition, the fact is that they were put on the National Firearms Act as an anti-poaching regulation so people who were starving during the Great Depression could not go hunt at the King’s.gov lands and hunt the King’s.gov deer. That it may have actually happened back then, i still haven’t been able to find specific cases, but I am not saying that it did not happen.
“This is not a hunting issue, and this is not a gun-rights issue. This is a safety issue,” said Patricia Brigham, who heads the gun-safety committee for the League of Women Voters in Florida. “If neighbors don’t hear gunshots in the area, how are they going to know to stay out of the way?”
If Ms. Brigham would have cared to make a wee bit research, she would have find out that silencers do not eliminate the sound of shooting 100%. It may lower the sound of escaping gases to a tolerable level but still we are talking Black Cat firecracker bang (The new ones that are so frigging weak) and since rifle hunting rounds are supersonic, that crack is not dissipated at all.
But then again Ms Brigham is not just an innocent member of the League of Women Voters of Florida but a full fan of Gun Control. The Facebook page of LWVF Gun Safety Commitee is full of links to the Brady Campaign and Everytown/Moms Demand (I thought the Leagues of Women Voters were supposed to be non-partisans and non-lobbyist). Ms Brigham’s Facebook page is pretty clean but she could not help herself and celebrate the passing of I-594 in Washington State and has a cute little graphic in it. And in her Linkedin profile she has Moms Demand and Everytown as “follows.”
Back to using silencers for hunting. I figure that the ban will be lifted because for all the moaning and hand-wringing, the opposition cannot produce one iota of evidence probing that it will be a dangerous thing. I have to think that this is gonna be one of those unintended consequences of Gun Control backfiring on its followers:
“We cannot have people shooting! It is loud and bothers me. I don’t wanna hear it”
“OK, we are then gonna approve the use of silencers so the noise does not bother you.”
“You can’t let people use silencers! It is not safe because I cannot hear the shooting!”
Oy!