Then I got it, ol’ Dusty here is making sure that every bug smasher from Mount Whitney to the Mojave knows what true speed is. He’s the fastest dude in the valley today, and he just wants everyone to know how much fun he is having in his new Hornet. And the reply, always with that same, calm, voice, with more distinct alliteration than emotion: “Dusty 52, Center, we have you at 620 on the ground.”

via The Ultimate Ground Speed Check – Tales from the Blackbird.

Many planes have come and gone but the good old SR-71 will always be my favorite. Read the whole thing and smile .

And to Daniel in the improbable event that he is reading this blog: I want my Blackbird book back you bastard!

So down here in South Florida, we have been in the celebratory/remembering mood since this month is the 30th anniversary of Miami Vice. Ink and bytes have been spent on the influence that Miami Vice had on TV shows, the use of popular music and modern musicians for its sound track, the effect it had on the economy of South Florida and the resuscitation of South Beach and even the coolness of the cars used in the series. But I have seen nothing about the guns used in Miami Vice.

Michael Mann is a Gunnie. I say so because he is about the only director/producer other than John Millius that does not fall for the Hollywood staples in both guns and usage and because he took classes with Col. Jeff Cooper . Even though for today’s standards and training, the way shootings were portrayed in Miami Vice are bit over the top and still “show-bizzy” for the time they were revolutionary.

Miami Vice brought to TV a real modern shooter: Jim Zubiena. For those with memory, he was the contract killer known as The Argentinian.  In the third episode there is a  scene in which he draws and mozambiques a cop with such an impressive speed, the thought of many was that it was trick editing or speeding of the film but he was just a very good shooter.

But let’s get it on with the hardware. With very few exceptions, the guns of the TV shows were basically a Smith & Wesson Model 10, a 1911, Colt detective Special or some S&W J-Frame, M-16 for the SWAT guys, maybe a bolt-action rifle and the omnipresent Remington 870 pump shotgun.

Abusing the powers of the Internet Movie Firearms Database, just in the first season, Miami Vice blows every single cop show out of the waters of Biscayne bay.  Handguns? From Sonny Crocket’s Bren 10 to a Remington 1866 Derringer were used. Hell, what was not used? More S&W Model 29s than in all Dirty Harry Movies. Imports like the Heckler & Koch P9S, Beretta Cheetah, Walther PPK/S and the SIG-Sauer P220. Even Back Up guns were represented with a Detonics Pocket 9.
The Franchi SPAS-12s taking the limelight over the traditional pumps shotguns with a Browning Auto-5 for flavor, a Blunderbuss Flintlock for old times sake and High Standard Model 10 for sheer weirdness. The rifles went from the good old M-16 and the little brother CAR-15 and the well-known Ruger Mini-14 to Steyr-Mannlicher Sporter to a Ruger AC556.

And let us not forget the machine guns. Uzi and MAC 10 became part of the common vocabulary. An M-60 shooting from the back of a van in the middle of Miami Beach? Check. And you also get your HK94, MP-5, Smith & Wesson M76, Beretta PM12S and the soon-to-be infamous Interdynamic KG-99.
Not enough? How about an FIM-43 Redeye Surface to Air missile?

And again, this was just the first season of the show. By season 2 things get really interesting.  If you have a couple of hours to waste, please drop by the IMFDB Miami Vice page and enjoy yourself. And kudos to these people, they do a great job and get little recognition.

Seen in Facebook

Not a case separation but a case flip. It somehow ended up not ejecting, turning 180 degrees and lodging itself in the chamber case head first.

Now imagine having this malfunction when the chips are down…. That does not come out without tools.

Then again you have a better chance of hitting the lotto than this happening to you.

Clarification of the “Graves Act” 2008 Directive with Respect to Offenses Committed by Out-of-State Visitors Where Their Gun-Possession Conduct Would Have Been Lawful. (Click to download PDF)

So the new official position for prosecutors in the State of New Jersey regarding cases of people who in good faith brought guns into the state breaking their ancient and ineffective laws is that they will be allowed to go the Pre-Trial Intervention way or (I don’t know if I am reading this right) take a plea with the understanding that the person will get a Non-Custodial sentence (no prison term to be served but you are still considered a felon.)

But it is not that clean-cut as it sounds. The prosecutor has to agree and they threw enough crap in the process to make it murky enough. You can read the “clarification” on the link above.

How about bringing the law into the 21st Century? Nah, that would make sense.

So there is a Gun Rights conference in which people from all areas of the US come every year paying for their own air fare, room and board. This year the conference is happening in third largest city of the US with a very busy and important airport.  The conference itself is to be held at the Airport’s hotel.  The day when most of the attendees are supposed to arrive via plane, an employee sets fire to the airport’s control center shutting down air the operations if almost 900 planes and stranding tens of thousands of passengers all over the country.

So what happened to that conference? What happened to the Gun Rights Policy Conference of 2014 to be held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Airport in Chicago? Cancelled? Very sparse attendance? See for yourself:

And that is why we win.

Blanks were fired from guns at an Ohio district’s schools this week, as part of a safety exercise to let students know what gunshots sound like.

The blanks were fired in the hallways or school offices of Champion high school and middle school on Monday, reported local outlet WFMJ-TV. No gunshots were fired in areas that could have contained students.

The drill was part of training designed by ALICE Training Institute, an organization that helps schools develop plans for dealing with armed intruders, said the outlet. ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate. School personnel had already received training from ALICE prior to the drill.

via School District Fires Blanks From Guns So Students Know What Gunfire Sounds Like.

So the local PD and School District decide not only to do some training but they dare to inject small amount of realism by shooting blanks far enough away from any student gathering as possible and people lose their minds. We even have what we can call a New Age Idiotic parent whose patchouli panties apparent got twisted:

One concerned parent, however, told the outlet that he did not think it was necessary for guns to be shot at school for the training.”Record a gunshot and play it over the loud speaker,” the parent told the outlet.

This is very very bad. No wonder Moms Demand is against it. God forbid they suddenly run out of bleeding/dying victims as it would put a dent on their efforts. Why would cops be prepared to act or teachers ready to minimize casualties?