Carnival of Cordite #38

Welcome to our special Veterans Day issue of the Carnival of Cordite.

Back in the day, right before I put on that first uniform, I raised my right hand and swore the Oath of Enlistment.  I swore to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.  I didn't swear to defend some of it.  I swore to defend ALL of it.  That includes the Second Amendment.

Millions of other Americans have sworn that same oath.  Many died for it.  Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms remains secure only because so many have been so willing.  We honor those who sacrifice themselves so that we may be free.

Before we get to the regular Carnival of Cordite features, there are two things I'd like to plug:

First, I'd like to remind all you readers about Project Valour IT.  It's a great program to help provide wounded service members with laptop computers they can use.  They need money.  You have money.  Do the math.

Second, here is a great new resource to bring together all the milbloggers of the world, aptly named Milblogging.  Check it out!

And now, let us continue with our Veterans Day Carnival of Cordite...

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In honor of our veterans, we begin with military arms:

Owen goes into more depth with his answer to last week's discussion question on the .223 round.  More from Hell in a Handbasket.

Of course, one of the best-known military arms is the Colt 1911, the G.I. .45 ACP sidearm that served our military for many decades and many wars.  And it is a firearm that continues to serve shooters today.  It continues to be refined and improved.  Bothenook could use your advice on which new 1911-style pistol he should buy now.

If you are looking for a new 1911, maybe you need to consider... a SIG!  That's right.  Michael Bane has a great report on the new Revolution line of 1911 pistols from SIGARMS.

Not every G.I. .45 included the letters "ACP."  Anthroblogogy has a nice article on the 1909 .45 Colt service revolver.

Another great military weapon was the M-3:

PawPaw takes a trip down memory lane as he recalls qualifying with the M-3.

Here is a great page about how the least lethal device on the planet is saving lives in Iraq.  What is it?  A new stun weapon?  Some sort of laser?  No, it's SILLY STRING!

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But let us not overlook the veterans themselves!

Perhaps the most famous of all American war heroes was Sgt. Alvin York, whose exploits are legendary.  South Park Pundit has a good story on York and the guns he used here.

And did you know that this week also marked the 230th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps?

And Granny wishes a happy Veterans Day to all who served.

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But all those brave men and women who sacrificed their lives to protect our Constitution are rolling over in their graves over what happened in San Francisco this week...

Ronocracy is the first to report in-depth on the latest San Francisco gun ban.

New contributor Teapot Tantrums finds irony in the effective date:

The most ironic thing about this, though, is that the deadline for turning in handguns is April 1, 2006, which would be known to you and me as April Fool's Day.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all woke up tomorrow morning and found that someone was pulling the joke early?

Maybe the date is for the fools who will actually surrender their firearms to the city instead of fighting the unconstitutional ban?

Of Arms and the Law is overflowing with posts on San Francisco, as well as Alito and other legal issues.  Just start at the top and keep on reading.

IMAO is ready as always to poke fun at the enemy:

Now that there are no handguns for citizens, SF residents will have to fend off attackers with rape whistles, pepper spray, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Heartless Libertarian points out that the ban also affect hand loaders.

It Comes in Pints is seeking donations to erect a new billboard.

An e-mailer offered up an idea, and I have expanded upon it, to help all the lawful gun owners of San Francisco:

We need to put together a "Red State Gun Holder System" for those stuck in S.F. to send their firearms to an adoptive "parent" in a gun-friendly red state come April First, until this matter is settled in court.  One of us would hold your guns for you and keep them safe while lawyers fight for your rights in court.  No turn ins.  No surrendering.  We'll look out for you and your property.  And we'll ship them back to you when A) the law is overturned, or B) you move.

And if any of you would like to sell your guns, since you won't be able to locally, we will help you find buyers in red states.  If you decide it isn't worth the hassle anymore, then make sure your guns can at least find their way into good homes in gun-friendly states, where they won't be taken by the police and melted down.

What do we need to make this work, and to make it legal?

First off, we need volunteers with FFL's in the red states who will receive your guns and either hold them themselves, or find adoptive parents.  Second, we need some sort of an on-line system to hook up participants.  Third, we need money.  After all, to keep it legal, the FFL holders have to pay for background checks.  Plus there is all that shipping and handling.  And I'm sure there will be some costs involved in putting a network together.  But no one should have to pay to protect their gun rights.  Therefore, ideally we would get donations to cover the expenses.

So now I am putting forth this challenge to all you gun-loving entrepreneurs: MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

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Other big news from the last few weeks: France is on fire!

Raving Conservative has this to say:

This situation makes me glad we have the right to bear arms in America, because unlike the French, we can fight back.

The Paris situation got Posse Incitatus wondering just how many guns he needs.

Aaron has his own take on the French, and ties it in to the San Francisco situation:

Maybe the French should just put Jean Reno in charge...  Or just give their people the Right to Bear Arms...

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Speaking of the Right to Bear Arms, I think SondraK is a little confused:

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On to other matters from the legal, criminal, and political front:

We are hearing more about Supreme Court nominee Judge Alito from Pubcrawler (caution: lots of unedited judicial opinion within!).

Law professor Ann Althouse has a lot more on Alito here.  Key sentence: the Brady Campaign is...

...woefully ignorant of the fact that lawprofs and lawyers are reading their statements and blogging about them.

Ouch.  But it gets worse for the Brady Camp... Confederate Yankee has a damning piece on the Brady Campaign's lies and distortions:

That the Brady Center would apparently try to conjure up the frightening image of a homeless person willing to buy almost anyone a gun for a beer is a disgusting, bigoted tactic, but it is a tactic the Brady Center seems comfortable in using.

On a good note, Blog Idaho e-mailed me this story.  We need more common sense like that!

On a bad note, there was a school shooting this week.  Dr. Helen (also known as Mrs. Coyote Killer, among other things) writes about it here.  Great tidbit:

For those of you interested in the gun debate on this issue--it has been found that boys who own legal firearms show less delinquency even then those boys who do not own guns at all.  It is the boys that own illegal guns who comitt more crimes--not surprising as they have shown themselves willing to break the law already.

Buy Dr. Helen's book:

Speaking of school shootings, what's up with this?

Ronocracy has a good round-up of guns laws by state and a round-up of bad cop stories.

Life in the Great Midwest has some interesting thoughts on the oh-so-close vote on concealed carry laws in Wisconsin.

mASS BACKWARDS is fuming over the latest crap from Boston.

Mr. Completely has video of a real-life police shoot-out.

Do guns cause crime?  Read about an experiment here, here, and here.  Make sure you read these... but make sure you aren't drinking milk over your keyboard when you do!

Do guns prevent crime?  Ask this 66 year old grandmother.  More from Jack Lewis.

Countertop tells us "gun free zones" are criminal safe zones.

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On to range reports:

Owen is practicing more with the air pistol, and from the sound of it is getting pretty good.

Dodgeblogium remembers a good day of shooting while thinking about a lost loved one:

Heather always liked this picture of me with the Bushmaster.

It's important to make memories.  Dodgeblogium is also in a band, named, appropriately enough, Growing Old Disgracefully.  Info here.  Check it out!

Uncle has taken his ultimate WASR to the range:

Mr. Completely reminds us about the latest e-postal match.  Plus, he has a report from the latest pin shoot.

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There's no point going to the range without ammo.  Standard Mischief is here to remind us all about National Ammo Day, with a request to ditch Wal-Mart.

More on Ammo Day from Baboon Pirates, who also has a special prize offer.

South Park Pundit covers defensive shotgun ammo.

And for extra-special ammo needs, check this out.

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It's hunting season!

One of my biggest supporters is talk radio host Lars Larson.  I heard Lars talking about his weekend hunting trip on the radio, so I sent him an e-mail congratulating him on his kills.  He e-mailed me some photos, so I put together this photo album for him.

TFS Magnum is glad to see a good article on women and hunting.  But she's concerned about a push to take hunting away from younger kids.

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Media:

Following up on an earlier theme, Gaijin Biker weighs in on the new "anti-gun" James Bond.

We all like to use the term "gun porn" to describe great pictures of firearms.  But Wadcutter has a story on "gun porn" of a different sort.

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Speaking of gun porn:

South Park Pundit remembers his first gun, a Savage Arms 101:

More of his gun porn here.

The Judicator has been working on a FAL:

Need something small for packing?  How about one of these?

What should be your first gun?  AnarchAngel answers the question.

And we all need one of these!

Oh yeah...

Always wear proper ear and eye protection when you practice!

It just isn't gun pr0n without Kit, is it?

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On the tech side, Uncle has a couple of great posts, with pictures and everything, on building an AK, here and here.

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And finally, it's time for a little blatant self-promotion on my part...

Aaron is putting together a bloggers deck of cards and is seeking nominations and votes.  I would be tickled pink if y'all would honor me by supporting me in my bid for the Jack of Spades.  You don't need to do much: just keep track of when Aaron puts up the Spades poll, then go and vote for me!!!

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Blog of the week award goes to South Park Pundit, because his experiment really makes me laugh.

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Discussion question: can we seriously get something going to help San Francisco gun owners get their guns to a safe place for now?

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That wrap's up our Veterans Day Carnival of Cordite.  For archives and submission information, please see our main blog.

You can also e-mail us:

c a r n i v a l o f c o r d i t e A T h o t m a i l D O T c o m

Or, use the handy carnival submit form.

And to catch up on all the other fine blog carnivals, check out the ubercarnival.

See y'all next week.  And remember, if you can read this, thank a teacher.  But if you are reading this in ENGLISH, thank a VETERAN!

Comments

[Kit]

I am an FFL holder in Montana, and I would have no problem whatsoever either "adopting" as many firearms as San Franscisco'ers want to send to me or by facilitating sales to Montanans with minimal-to-no transfer fees. Just contact me via my web site. However, my hope is that it won't come to this, and we can get this thing overturned before April!

Thanks for the great Veteran's Day issue Gully. Good work as always.

[Daniel Levesque]

Hey there! I'm amazed that I actually rated a quote on what is only my third submission ever. You're just being nice to me. :)

www.ravingconservative.com

[Andrew Ian Dodge]

Thanks for the link to the band mate! Let's hope all your readers will be humming 'Cry Freedom' when they are blasting the bejesus out of targets with their favourite gun.

[docdave]

Let's try to understand this. The US Constitution says that one can 'bear arms without infringement'. A local community passes a law to confiscate firearms which is in obvious violation of the Constitution. If you are a person with firearms living in that community, why would you voluntarily allow them to be confiscated?

[Sven]

Veteran's Day...Our local paper, the somewhat conservative Rocky Mountain News had one special article and a guest editorial yesterday. Both worth reading, given the focus in this week's Carnival.

http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/news/finalSalute/

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/speak_out/article/0,2777,DRMN_23970_4229434,00.html

Been reading the Carnival for about six weeks now. Can't remember where I found reference, prolly SondraK or Kit. Keep up the great work. And Gully, Thank you for your time serving our country.