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September 28, 2009 by
The ten-month surge in the sale of firearms and the accompanying increase in applications for concealed carry permits in the U.S. have been well documented by the pro-gun media. But a relatively under-reported related gun-sales story has everything to do with sex.
Did that get your attention?
By all accounts, women are buying guns for personal protection like never before and seeking firearms training and education in increasing numbers.
Last week it was reported that in 2009 nearly 12,000 new pistol permits were issued in Connecticut, a state with one of the historically lowest gun-ownership rates in the country. Between January and May the state saw a 90 percent increase in the number of pistol permits over the previous year, with retailers and safety instructors reporting a spike in first-time gun purchases, particularly by women.
“I think that the percentage that you’d see of women coming for the first time has quadrupled,” John Petricone, a staffer at Tactical Arms in Torrington, told the Danbury Republican-American. Pistol safety classes that once drew about nine men for every woman are now evenly split, Petricone said.
That contention was all but confirmed by survey results released this week from the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s “First Shots” program.
“First Shots” is just what the name implies: a program that introduces people to handgun shooting for their first time—along with expert coaching and safety instruction.
Of the 3,106 participant surveys tabulated from handgun events as of this June, a total of 1,498 participants (48 percent) identified themselves as female. In addition, 64 percent of the female participants indicated the First Shots seminar marked their first-ever experience shooting a handgun.
In a follow-up survey conducted six months after attending the seminar, 20 percent of the female participants said they went on to take formal handgun training such as basic handgun, concealed carry, defensive handgun, NRA safety instruction and other formal programs. Further, nearly half of the responding female First Shots participants reported to have met their state’s requirement to own or purchase a handgun.
[ Read Full Post ] September 2, 2009 by
St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols—who knows a thing or two about hitting and distance—receives some pointers from Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Thompson about the preferred platform for long-distance communication by Navy SEALs. Pujols and All-Star reliever Ryan Franklin were among five Cardinal players who toured the Naval Special Warfare facilities while in San Diego for a series with the Padres August 20-23.
[ Read Full Post ] July 13, 2009 by
If Mark Twain were still with us, he might contend that the rumors of the firearms industry’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
Selected Wall Street investment analysts announced downgrades to some firearms manufacturer’s stocks last week, based on the premise that the unprecedented spike in the sales of certain guns and ammunition since the November General Election is nearing the end of its historic run.
“THE OBAMA GUN RUN IS SLOWING,” shouted the lead line in Barron's Senior Editor Bill Alpert’s feature, “Shooting a Hole in the Outlook for Gun Stocks.”
“When the Democrats swept into Washington in November, gun fanciers scrambled for 15-round pistols and tactical rifles equipped with grenade launchers, flash suppressors and bayonets—in fear the new administration would reinstate a ban on the sale of such weapons,” Alpert wrote.
Grenade launchers, flash suppressors and bayonets?
Based on the arrogant and sarcastic tone of the article, one wonders whether the author’s contention that the increase in firearms sales and related jump in concealed-carry permit applications may be waning is based more on wishful thinking than facts and accurate data.
Ironically, the same day Barron’s announced what appeared to be the death knell to the present booming firearms market, gunmaker Smith & Wesson announced a 20 percent increase in sales for the company’s fiscal 2009 ending on May 31. The Springfield, Mass. manufacturer reported a net profit of $7.4 million, or 14 cents per share, more than doubling earnings from the same quarter last year and beating analyst estimates.
(In the interest of full disclosure, the writer is an investor and has owned Smith & Wesson stock for nearly 10 years.)
And last week, data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) indicated a 15.4 percent leap in background checks on the sale of firearms in May when compared to the same month a year ago. Background checks totaled 1,023,102 in May 2009, up from 886,183 reported in May 2008.
The May increase came on the heels of a 30.3 percent increase in April, a 29.2 percent gain in March and rises of 23 percent in February, 28 percent in January, 24 percent in December and 42 percent in November—when a record 1,529,635 background checks were performed.
Granted, the May 2009 NICS numbers fall somewhat short when compared to those from preceding months. But it’s hardly a cause for alarm for anyone but those naysayers who contend the current high interest in firearms ownership for personal protection is fabricated and lacks legitimacy.
[ Read Full Post ]July 9, 2009 by
As a direct result of the resurgent interest in 1930s bank robber John Dillinger with the July 1 release of the blockbuster movie “Public Enemies,” a pair of firearms inextricably linked to the Depression-era bad guy will be auctioned in coming days.
First, the Remington .41 cal. rimfire double derringer found hidden in Dillinger’s sock at the time of his January 1934 arrest in Tucson, Ariz. will be auctioned by Dallas-based Heritage Galleries on July 25. The historic gun is expected to fetch between $35,000 and $45,000, according to the auction company’s Web site.
In addition, a .38 Colt Army Special carried by Capt. Timothy O'Neil of the East Chicago Police Department on the day Dillinger was shot and killed outside the Biograph Theater will be offered for auction on July 22—a date that coincidentally marks the 75th anniversary of the gangster’s demise.
Press material from the auctioneer notes that the derringer “bears serial #L97255 and retains most of the original blue on screws, hammer, and trigger; the balance with the original blue-gray matte finish mixing with gray patina. Perfect grips, mint bore, mechanically fine.”
The tip of the barrel release lever is broken, something that is not uncommon with the model, according to gunsmiths and collectors of the vintage gun.
Manufactured by Remington Arms, the unique firearm marked the first of the derringer genre, with each barrel able to fire individually by means of a pivoting firing pin operating on a ratchet. About 150,000 of the guns were manufactured between about 1866 until around 1935.
Frankly speaking, the .41 rimfire cartridge of the era was considered anything but a powerhouse caliber, to be sure. It was sometimes said that a bullet fired from the pocket pistol would bounce off gun leather and fall harmlessly to the ground.
At the same time, some infamous gunfighters of the 1920s and 30s admitted they would rather take a slug from a .45 than from a .41 rimfire. They reasoned that a .45 cal. bullet would probably pass through a man and offer a treatable wound, while a .41 would probably remain imbedded, potentially festering and lead to deadly infection. (Remember, these were pre-penicillin days.)
During coordinated raids taking place from January 22 to January 25, 1934, Pima County (AZ) Sheriff’s deputies arrested Dillinger (using the alias Frank Sullivan) along with gang members Henry Pierpoint, Russel Clark and Charles Makley, and Dillinger’s “moll,” Billie Frechette.
In July 1934 Dillinger was extradited to Indiana where he faced murder charges. While incarcerated awaiting trial, he famously broke out of jail armed with a pistol carved out of wood.
Five weeks after his escape, on July 22, 1934, he was killed “in a hail of gunfire” while leaving the Chicago theater by FBI agents and other authorities, including Capt. O'Neil. Though some law enforcement historians question whether bullets fired from O’Neil’s .38 Colt actually hit “Public Enemy Number One” on that sultry July evening, the gun is expected to bring as much as $12,000 at this month’s auction.
[ Read Full Post ] May 27, 2009 by
From Colorado's Greely Tribune:
"A Loveland man suffered serious injuries when he was hit by lightning Monday afternoon while skeet shooting east of Lucerne.
Josh Renuch, 32, was one of two men injured in the incident shortly after 2 p.m. Monday, said Margie Martinez, spokeswoman for the Weld County Sheriff’s Office. She identified the other man as Brent Kuehne, 32, of Greeley.
Martinez said the two men were with a group of seven people shooting skeet at a farmhouse 2 to 3 miles east of Lucerne. She said the incident occurred just before a heavy thunderstorm moved through the Greeley area.
“There was no storm out there at the time, but obviously, there was lightning.
“Apparently, a skeet had just been launched, and the lightning may have hit the shotgun because it pretty much exploded in (Renuch’s) hands,” Martinez said.
She said Kuehne was knocked down by the lightning. A woman who was with them, along with a person from a nearby residence, gave first aid to the two men until emergency personnel arrived. The woman, Martinez said, was not injured, but she and the others at the site were taken to North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.
Because of patient confidentiality, the hospital could not give the conditions of those injured.
Meanwhile, the heavy rain that started around 2 p.m. Monday in downtown Greeley continued well into the afternoon. It resulted in some minor flooding problems in the area of 9th Avenue and 16th Street shortly after 3 p.m. There was no serious problems, however, according to Greeley police.
About 4 p.m., amateur radio spotters in southwest Greeley reported floodwater running over Weld County Road 54 and Two Rivers Parkway, about eight miles southwest of Greeley, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a flash flood warning for the area. Water up to hub caps on vehicles was reported, and the weather service said Doppler radar indicated as much as 3 inches of rain had fallen in the area.
Martinez said there was runoff from a field near Weld 54 and Two Rivers Parkway, and west of there, small hail covered about a mile area.
“It was small hail, but there was tons of it,” she said, noting it was 3-4 inches deep in that one area.
Other sites reported upward of 1.25 inches on Greeley’s northwest side and more than half an inch near Highland Hills Golf Course. Near Kersey, 0.6 of an inch to more than an inch was reported at automated weather stations, while other areas of Weld had a trace up to 0.3 of an inch or a little more.
[ Read Full Post ]
March 9, 2009 by
A pair of Southwest Florida ne’er-do-wells didn’t exactly give police specific directions to one of their homes after allegedly committing a home burglary last week—but they might as well have.
Responding to a report of a home burglary and theft on Tuesday, police in Ft. Myers, Fla. were told that among the items taken were a dirt bike, flat screen TV, computer, Ford SUV and a gun safe containing various firearms.
With minimal detective work, the cops easily identified scrape marks in the yard of the burglarized residence indicating that the gun safe had been dragged behind the stolen SUV. From that starting point, authorities followed about 800 yards of continuous drag marks in the ground and gouges in the pavement, leading from the residence, across the street, and through several vacant lots.
Straight to the home of Jarvis B. Bowens, 23.
A subsequent search of Bowens’ residence revealed many of the missing items. The stolen SUV was found in a nearby wooded area.
The Ft. Myers News-Press reports that Bowens and Wayne Blanks, 19, were jailed and charged with 36 felonies for theft and burglary.
[ Read Full Post ]February 19, 2009 by
Based on new scientific data indicating that nearly three times the number of black bears live in the state than previously estimated, the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board voted unanimously last week to increase the bear kill quota by 55 percent
As a result, for the 2009 Wisconsin bear-hunting season, the quota will be raised to 4,585 and the number of hunting permits raised to 7,310, a 57 percent increase.
As recently as 2007 the Wisconsin DNR estimated that there were 13,000 black bears in the state, but a comprehensive research study completed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008 revealed a bear count closer to 37,000.
Last week’s DNR staff recommendation was praised by representatives of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress Bear Committee, the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association and the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation prior to the board’s vote.
In the past, the DNR monitored the bear population by using the age of bears that are killed, permit success rates, agricultural and nuisance complaints, and visitations at bear bait stations.
The study by University of Wisconsin graduate student Dave MacFarland with guidance from Timothy van Deelen, Ph.D., was more detailed.
“We believed there were more bears than we were being told. We were skeptical about the DNR doing anything about it,” said Bob Welch, representing the Bear Hunters Association. “We are very happy about the way this came out, and very pleased how the department adopted the study.”
[ Read Full Post ]February 14, 2009 by
It should come as no surprise to regular readers of the Newshound blog that those who choose to deliberately break game and fish regulations are usually not the “sharpest tools in the shed,” so to speak.
Case in point:
A convicted felon prohibited by law from owning firearms or legally hunting didn’t let that stop him from an unusually bone-headed poaching attempt in Bay County, Fla. last week.
In the course of a night-time stakeout, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers Dennis Palmer and Mark Clements witnessed a man instruct his girlfriend’s 13-year-old daughter to shoot at an agency’s mechanical deer decoy—twice—while her mother illuminated the fake whitetail with their pickup truck’s headlights.
The weekly citations report from the FWC did not name the subjects involved in the incident.
According to the FWC, all three were cited for night hunting and road hunting. Fortunately (for them), being incredibly dumb is (currently) not a criminal offense in Florida. Otherwise, additional charges could have been applied in the case.
[ Read Full Post ]January 23, 2009 by
You’ve probably seen the television commercials for Southwest Airlines, where someone does something incredibly bone-headed, and the announcer asks, “Wanna get away?”
We figure that’s probably how Rusty Saunders of Fort Edward, N.Y. felt after he shot—and tagged—what he thought was an elk while hunting in Montana’s Paradise Valley last November.
The details are sketchy as to how Mr. Saunders initially came to his embarrassing revelation, but Mel Frost, the public information officer for the Bozeman office of Montana Fish, Parks and Wildlife confirmed that the Empire State woodsman turned himself in to a game warden in Livingston after realizing he’d bagged a shaggy-furred llama.
Outdoor writer Brett French of the Billings Gazette reported this week that Saunders’ case was ultimately turned over to the Montana Department of Livestock, because, unlike in its native Peru, the llama in considered to be a farm animal in the states, and not wildlife.
After investigating, the livestock folks turned the matter over to Park County authorities without issuing any citations.
“We don’t have any statute to prevent that kind of thing,” Steve Merritt, information officer for the Livestock Department in Helena, told French.
Photos taken by the livestock department showed the field-dressed dark brown and black llama in the back of a red pickup truck, with Saunders’ notched 2008 elk tag clearly attached to its neck. Not surprisingly, the photo is reportedly making the rounds on the Internet, along with verbiage inspired by another television advertising campaign.
30-06 rifle with Leupold Scope? $650;
Out of state license? $600;
Gas to drive from New York? $700;
Taking a trophy Montana llama? Priceless!
[ Read Full Post ]
January 16, 2009 by
Like many other states, Colorado experienced a surge in firearms sales in 2008, especially following the November general election.
Firearms owners nationwide believe the election of Barack Obama signals a forthcoming return of the 90s-era ban of certain firearms and high capacity magazine—at the very least —as well as other gun and ammunition restrictions.
Background checks performed on Colorado firearms buyers exceeded 200,000 for the first time in state history for 2008, reflecting an increase of 26 percent from the previous year. Total background checks last year numbered 202,772, compared with 160,756 in 2007. Roughly 97 percent of all background checks are approved.
More than a quarter of the checks took place following the Nov. 4 general election.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation reports it conducted nearly 30,000 instant background checks for potential gun buyers in November and more than 26,300 in December. That compares with 18,569 checks in October and 14,556 in September. In January 2008, the CBI conducted 13,161 background checks.
Lance Clem, spokesman for the CBI, called it a “staggering year” for the Insta-Check Unit, which conducts the background checks.
“November was the biggest month,” Clem told the Rocky Mountain News. “We had records set on three separate days in November.”
[ Read Full Post ]
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