U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs of the Bureau of Justice Statistics released this little jewel called Firearm Violence, 1993-2011. Apparently most of the Major Media Conglomerates did not get the email and neither did the Usual Gun Control groups.
Here are some of the Highlights (their word, not mine, italics mine):
Firearm-related homicides declined 39%, from 18,253 in1993 to 11,101 in 2011. (Unimpossible! Murders are going up. It is the Wild West!)
In 2004, among state prison inmates who possessed a gunat the time of offense, less than 2% bought their firearm at a flea market or gun show and 40% obtained their firearm from an illegal source. (There goes the Gun Show Loophole)
About 70% to 80% of firearm homicides and 90% of nonfatal firearm victimizations were committed with a handgun from 1993 to 2011. (But what about the Eeevil Assault Weapons?)
I am gonna take my time and digest the stats as it is not my forte. But it does make for an interesting reading. Make sure to download the report and pass it along to your friends, specially those who might be leaning towards the dark side.
Save the money on paying off that Jumbo-tron operator, proposals can also work well on the shooting rage. This proposal was actually well thought out with use of several steel targets. Anyway, no spoiler alerts, just enjoy the vid
The following is a video of a shooting between Miami-Dade narcotics detectives and a resident of a marijuana growhouse. There is two camera angles in this embed, the second beginning at 7:43. My opinions are just that and I am not a tactical guru nor I stayed at the Holiday Inn last night. Grain of salt recommended.
We are used to see highly choreographed shootings in TV and the movies, but Real Life is just plain ugly and Murphy is her Significant Other.
Starting with the imperfect timing of the shooter getting in the car and out of the view of the first officer coming toward the house’s driveway. One second…half a second difference and the guy would have seen and taken care possibly without violence.
The first officer missing the guy inside the car. It could have been tunnel vision, a play in light, shadows and reflection on a late July afternoon (The house is facing west as per the shadows in the video,) possible tinting in the car’s glass or a combination of all. Who knows? We cannot predict all the circumstances and we just get to ride them sometimes.
Officers’ reaction at the Individual coming out of the car were just about under 4 seconds from detection to firearm deployed as they were not looking at the car and they were distracted making the arrest of the second individual. Not a criticism but simply how much time it requires to absorb, process & act from an unexpected target even when there must be enough adrenalin already running in the systems.
The second officer was trying to control the second individual, once the shooting started made a dash for cover behind the car, withdrew his weapon and joined the exchange. His momma raised no fools and he is not getting paid to die unnecessarily. Far from me to say anything against his tactics.
The third officer (closest to the street) had the great advantage of the tree in between him and the shooter. Now there is a lesson here: Cover works for both parties, especially if there is only one cover to share. The officer smartly uses the tree to shield himself from the shooter as he engages him and retreats to better cover. I like the footwork.
And now the Shooter. I can’t tell if he came out of the truck shooting but I’d say no from the lack of immediate reaction from the officers. As we know, he managed to get “good” hits on one officer and he used cover but not properly. In the video we see two possible wounds in the torso: one on his left side and possibly one in middle of the chest by what the blood on his back is showing (or maybe the shot came from Detective John Saavedra as the shooter’s back was turned to where he was hiding.) The way he started to favor his right leg may indicate that he got shot there (IDPA Shooters: 100% of the lower body behind cover, remember? His procedural was much longer than three seconds) and then came the head shot. According to the movies, the shooter was supposed to be dead at least twice yet he lasted a long time before he joined the cruise to Hades. “Pistol calibers are inefficient” was one if the first lessons I learned from a couple of instructors that dealt in reality and not Hollywood drama. We carry sidearms because they are lighter and easier to conceal than a rifle or shotgun but we must never forget we are trading efficiency for comfort (and no prison time in most localities.) Even the Mighty .45 is not a good stopper no mater what the faithful say as that was the caliber of shooter’s weapon.
And to close this post, I wonder how many shots were taken by each individual officer. I am willing to bet that at least some of them went over the stipulated NY Safe Act seven rounds and probably more than ten also.
If anybody has a copy of the video or knows where to download one, let me know. This one as teaching moment is a keeper.
This has to be the most naive declaration that has come out of any administration in recent history:
“DEFCAD.org files are being removed from public access at the request of the US Department of Defense Trade Controls. Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information.”
One week and one hundred thousand downloads of the Wiki Weapon later somebody in the government thinks the issue is solved and can prance around like you did something important to keep their little world safe?
History tells us that they tried to pull something similar on Johannes Gutenberg but somehow it did not work either. One does not stop the flow of the Mighty Mississippi with a box of maxi-pads.
I signed up for the Beta testing of a new facility in South Florida called Nexus Shooting. Located in Davie, the place was built from the ground up as a range & Gun Store and not a recovered/refurbished warehouse somewhere in the Import/Export sector of town. I think that the first impression you get just parking says it all. I walked in the place and I went full cartoonish as my jaw dropped straight to the ground; wall to wall covered in guns (and that is not an expression), natural light coming from skylights combined with artificial lights made possible to see just about everything without being forced to take out your tack light or feeling like you were under interrogation at Guantanamo because of the spotlights. This was not your storage of old uniforms, banged up ammo boxes and rack with old bumperstickers. However it is not a gun Boutique either, far from it. You find racks of much-needed accessories tall enough to be easy to find but not too tall that blocks the view. If the idea was to shock you with order and easiness to buy what you need (or don’t need but you gonna pounce the crap of that credit card) they did it with spades.
But a store is only as good as its personnel. Here they kick it several levels into the Good-os-phere: Be ready to meet FRIENDLY and HELPFUL people the moment you walk in the door. Customer service is first and foremost with this bunch: Neither pushy salespeople nor silent-type morose morons and I like that. And very important: dressed like professionals: not one wife-beater T-shirt or ultra tight polo shirt to show off the tats and muscles. Shirts and slacks including the lovely and helpful ladies.
I walked around a bit waiting for my friend Sal to finish with some customers and one of the crew introduced himself as Mike (Beware: Half the personnel is named either Mike or Chris. I have no idea if this is a requirement or just coincidental) who gave me a tour of the range facilities which led to another Jaw Falling moment with their soon to be working electronic target range in which you get to shoot at a self-healing screen with your gun and real boolits at targets you select from a database…oh yes, they had them iPads or equivalents at every lane and you can even compete with other people in the range or in my case, keep the darn scores hidden from public shame. Did I mention that the targets can move? The possibilities are endless on this side of the location as I was told that they can upload just about any image you want and just kill it. I didn’t even think about asking permission to take a pic of this area so shocked I was.
The “regular” part of the range was also top of the line.
Yes! There is light! I love being able to see the targets and not having to force my tired eyes. They must have one kick ass AC System because I did not feel like I was choking behind a bus nor I was sweating like being interrogated by the wife. And the lane had this doohickey:
That is seven YARDS…just in case some joker was to comment otherwise.
The doohickey lets you set the distance of the target and will allow you to program the behavior of said target to make it more challenging for you to shoot it and who knows what else. Sweet!
And here is a nice pic of the shooting positions: The baffles are made of steel and kevlar for safety. Notice the grilled floor where the ejected brass disappears and you do not feel like walking on ball bearings. But reloaders do not need to grumble: I was told that another doohickey will be available for you to collect your brass.
WalMart called and they are pissed!
I almost forgot: Nexus is the reason (I suspect) why nobody can find ammo south of the Mason-Dixon line…they bought it all! This is just a wee bit example:
Yes, those are bricks of .22LR, harder to find than honesty in Congress.
This post is getting way too long and I am not even halfway describing all the stuff I saw. Suffice to say the place has my 100% recommendation for you to go shoot and enjoy the heck out of yourself, friend and family. Damn I did forget to say that these guys & gals are all safety and take it seriously with Safety Officers present at all times.
There is a bunch of other little details that I am not including here and that impressed the hell out of me (soundproofing being one and the swipe-the-hand-to open-the-door thingies) and I know I did not see all of the place. I want to thank Salvatore Franzese for the invite and owner Chris Longsworth and the rest of the staff for the kind attention they had towards me and all the visitors. Problem is that they will have to get an injunction to keep me away from Nexus shooting. 🙂
PS: Again me with the Tavor and that is Mike in the background who was my guide. I think there is about four feet worth of guns vertically missing from the pic…walls and walls.
PS2: The First South Florida Gun Bloggers Shoot will be held here as soon as they are 100% running.
I know it does not make sense. I did not shoot it so I don’t know recoil, accuracy or any of the other important things. I only shouldered the darn weapon and it felt like I was slow-dancing with my bride of 27 years. This is the rifle I will buy and screw whatever else is there.
That is the gun section of Nexus Shooting in Dave, Fl. Expect my review of the Beta testing tomorrow but I can advance you that I squeeed like 5-year-old girl alone at the Barbie factory.
The number of people requesting applications for concealed firearms licenses skyrocketed following the killings in Newtown, Connecticut earlier this year. So much so, many scrambling to sign up for classes, fearing further gun restrictions by the federal government.
In January, more than 120,000 applications were filed. That compares to 47,000 last January.
“I think the concern is that everybody’s got a handgun and they’re going to use it at the wrong time,” exclaimed concerned Fort Lauderdale criminal attorney Hilliard Moldoff. “This is not the wild west.”
Gun control advocates are concerned that the permits invite violence. The irony: violent crime has dropped to the lowest point. State records show, while permits are up 90%, violent crimes committed with a firearm dropped 33-percent.
Seriously, I cannot imagine how much hate the State of Florida creates in the guts and feeble minds of Gun Control advocates. Every single prediction made about the Gunshine State has gone the way of the dodo.
Oh well, the beatings will continue until they stop being stupid or move to Chicago or learn to leave us the hell alone.
PS: Again me with the Tavor and that is Mike in the background who was my guide. I think there is about four feet worth of guns vertically missing from the pic…walls and walls.