JWKilgore

  I am discussing this in another forum, and I hoped someone here would have a good explanation as to "what next". As an update, the 5th Circuit denied the government's request for a 60-day stay back in late February.   As I understand this:  - The ruling means that specific gun shop may sell a handgun to that specific buyer and the ATF can't enforce the law prohibiting it. They may, however, decide to figure out some other way to get back at the gun shop (like a relative of mine who sued the IRS and won, then got his taxes audited every year for the next decade), but that's another issue. You will never find an FFL willing to risk their license/livelihood based on this ruling.    - If the ruling is appealed and upheld in the 5th district, it will apply to the entire 5th District. I would then be able to purchase a handgun from an FFL in my home state of MS. If it is appealed to the SCOTUS and upheld it will apply nationwide and congress will have to re-write the law.    - This has zero effect on me right now, but it bears watching.     Honestly, the best course of action for the ATF might be to just let it drop. Let this specific sale go through, then pull the FFL's license in a few years on some trumped-up technicality. Someone else would have to roll the dice on a lawsuit before it would apply to anybody else.

  Is this the first time a distinction has been placed between open carry and concealed carry in TN law?   All the exceptions in subsection (e) are still there, so people picking up kids in the car line are safe. So driving onto school property with a real, loaded handgun between the driver's seat and center console is perfectly legal, but walking down the sidewalk openly holding a banana the wrong way could get you arrested?   (For background, my kids had a brief shoot-out in the grocery store the other day holding bananas like guns, which would qualify them as "imitation firearms".)   My son's preschool is in a church immediately adjacent to a shopping center with a Goodwill branch. If I openly carry an old toy gun in to donate it, would I be breaking the law?     This is a very poorly worded bill.

This is in regards to Chattanooga:   For a more rural experience I'd honestly suggest checking out north Georgia. A friend lives in Lookout Valley near Rising Fawn, another friend lives up on Sand Mountain, and another friend lives on Lookout Mountain. All are in rural areas, and two live on small farms. TN has the huge advantage of no income tax, but therefore it's more heavily populated in general. It'll be difficult to find enough land for a personal shooting range at your price point with a reasonable commute to downtown. Not saying impossible, just difficult.   For Tennessee, maybe look up on Signal Mountain/Walden Ridge. Maybe even Montlake, which is above Soddy Daisy. You'll face the difficulty of getting up and down the mountain for commuting, but some parts are very rural. There's a popular public range at Prentice Cooper, and by "popular" I mean "often crowded".   A friend lives in the Sequatchie Valley, which even more rural. It's in the Central Time Zone, and you have to either go up and over the mountain or go south through the Nickajack Pass to get to downtown. Commuting can be a bear, but she survives. If you can find some land that backs up to Walden Ridge or the Cumberland Plateau you'll have the best backstop nature can build.   Next would be the Harrison area in northern Hamilton County on the opposite side of the river from Soddy Daisy. Lots of farm/ranch land as long as you stay away from the river, and the existing Chattanooga Rifle Club is nice.   Finally would be way out east in the Apison area. Very rural with farms and ranches everywhere, but a fairly long commute. The Cleveland Hunting Rifle and Pistol Club is out there and is a good one. If you're sensitive about such things, the primary religion in the area is 7th Day Adventist (to the point where neighboring Collegedale is the only zip code in the USA where weekend mail is delivered on Sunday instead of Saturday, but that's only for the SA-University).   Incidentally, are you working downtown or elsewhere?

The bouncing around issue may be the problem... I have a huge canner, but most of the time usually only have a relatively small batch. I'm limited by what I have available to can instead of canner capacity. Like the 9 pints of chili was only one layer with room for at least 2 more pints on that layer.   Possibly I should also leave a tad more headspace. I didn't think you were supposed to tighten the bands down too much beforehand because excess steam had to escape. I'll try a little tighter next time.   I'll try these things, but if leakage pre-seal is normal, it's normal. Thanks!     I do always wipe off the outside to keep the jars clean.

One of the biggest problems with most post-apocalypse movies and shows is that they always focus on extremists of one type or another. Either like the people in this video without any guns or any means to protect themselves (Luuuuuv will find a waaaaay) or walking-dead style shows where the only usable skill is killing things.   If you think you'll just kill them and steal their supplies... what happens when you finish eating it? Steal more, I guess, but eventually you're going to run out of pacifist hippies to steal from. If the only skill your group has is firing a gun, it's going to be a miserable time for all.   In reality the people in the video would be an extremely useful group to have with you. They speak of bartering for cider. How about this for a barter: you militant types provide the guns and ammo, the hippies provide the food. That's the best scenario for all... a group of military types providing security and a group of dedicated farmers/ranchers providing sustenance. Oh, and a group of civil engineer/laborers/"SeaBees" type to provide things like sanitation and walls. I would be in that last group.

I bought a pressure canner a few years ago after a freezer malfunction cost us considerable $$$ in lost food. We've been canning various beans and veggies, and also soups. I know the rules about not canning extra-thick or extra-fatty soups, this is about other things.   I make sure to clean the rim before placing the lids. But during the process of cooking, most jars have some of the material leak out into the canner. After cooling I have to remove the bands and wash everything off before storing. The only path it can take is between the lid and glass. The same area I made sure was squeaky clean beforehand that now potentially has food particles in the seal area.   I'm bubbling the jars, keeping headspace, etc. It does this with everything from boiled peanuts (quarts) to taco soup (pints, I take them to work for lunch). I canned 9 pints of my award-winning chili last night, and 7 of the 9 jars had leakage. All the jars sealed.   Will it affect the seal? Is this normal? If it's not normal, how do I stop it?

I might consider the drilled & tapped blank option, but that would require paying an actual gunsmith with actual tools and actual skills instead of me doing it in my garage. A complication is that the front barrel/magazine band is too close to the dovetail.   Williams confirmed that the WGRS sight set I ordered won't work with my gun, or at least that they don't sell a front sight tall enough. I'd have to upgrade to the 5D or FP rear sight which mounts lower, and then I'd have to special-order their tallest front sight (0.57"). Anyone in the Chattanooga area need a slightly-used WGRS-336 FS set?   *OR*   My next upgrade (next year?) was going to be a Weaver or XS Systems "Scout" rail with a low-power Burris or Leupold long-eye-relief scope. I'm worried if I go with the low-profile peep I won't be able to see over the rail if I have to dismount the scope. So right now I'm actually leaning toward keeping the rear peep and finding a taller front sight. It won't be a "fire sight", but it will still be an upgrade over what I have now.

I have an old Marlin 30A .30-30. For Christmas I got a Williams WGRS-336 FS set. It includes an adjustable peep receiver and a dovetail front bead with a fiber fire-sight. I immediately recognized that the front sight would be too low. Looking at the Williams web page, I'm guessing the front sight I got is supposed to be installed in the dove-tail slots in the front ramps used on modern Marlin 336's instead of the older models with slots directly on the barrel. I installed it anyway, figuring I'd try it out at the range then order a taller front sight to fit. Finally got out to the range yesterday. I'm loving the sight picture, but I couldn't even hit the paper at 100 and 50 yards. I was 11.5" too high at about 25 yards. I calculated that my new front needs to be about 0.75" tall measured from the bottom of the dove-tail to the top of the sight. That's worst-case; a tiny bit shorter could work. The rear sight can be lowered a tiny bit more (see pics), but I'd like to at least keep it flush with the rear of the receiver. Williams doesn't have an "email for question" options, and I'm planning on calling tomorrow, but I don't see anything on their web-site even close to that tall. First question: Am I aiming correctly? With open sights you put the front bead directly below where you want the bullet to go. I was using a concentric-circle bulls-eye target, and I was aiming by centering all the circles. Outer peep, concentric circles on the target, thin black circle around the fire-bead, and finally the round fiber bead itself. Is this correct with peep sights? By centering all the circles and the bead I realize I was aiming slightly higher than I would have been with open sights. I liked the bead, but I know that a flat blade front sight could be shorter because I'd put the top of the blade where the center of the fiber is now. Second question: Assuming Williams doesn't have a suitable front sight option, does anyone know of a reasonable option for installing a tall front sight into a dove-tail cut directly into the barrel? Assuming I can't find a workable fire-sight, right now I'm leaning toward the Skinner 1/2" base x 0.65" tall front blade. New Williams rear peep sight Showing barrel-mounted rear blade sight and front sight area. Close-up of front sights. Original brass bead sight is on the right.

Ignoring the "sniper" hoopla in the video, this guy has a fairly straightforward and logical selection procedure to choose a long-range cartridge based on YOUR criteria:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7bOIB2Zk-E Skip to about 4:30 for the useful info:   He uses the procedure here to select a few cartridges based on different criteria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtlwoNCNnFA   Personally, if I were looking for a magnum-level long-range rifle, I'd go with the tried-and-true 7mm Rem Mag for anything on this continent (maybe go larger diameter for grizzly).

mmirob, that's exactly what I was asking about. For what it's worth, it appears as if all their current line of lights/laser have the feature, and they sell an ECR "upgrade kit" for $15 that allows you to use any holster to activate the light. It's probably just an overpriced magnet.    This was originally just a hypothetical discussion, but since the product actually already exists I may do some research on getting one for my wife's carry pistol. Yes, yes, I know that with practice turning the light/laser on during draw becomes second nature, but getting her to practice drawing is not an easy task. 

During a discussion today we were talking about the usefulness of a laser or light in a real draw-and-fire self defense situation. Other than the Crimson Trace type where they come on automatically when you grip the gun properly, I say they're all but useless "in the wild". Maybe if you are defending yourself in your house and you have time to think to switch it on they have a use. Otherwise, self-defense theory is that if you have time to pause and switch your laser/light on, you drew too soon.   Is anyone aware of an auto-on laser or light system? This would be something as simple as a large spring-loaded switch on the laser housing. The switch would be depressed while it is in a holster (off) and spring open when the weapon is drawn (on). One thought is that it would have to be configured such that simply gripping the weapon with the off hand shouldn't turn the light back off. Or it could have a magnet embedded in the holster to switch the light off.

Slippery Slope fallacy. All those other items have other completely non-ranged-weapon based purposes.     I feel the same way, and this is the exact reason for my proposal! Open the TICS/NICS so that anyone may sign up for an account and run a background check. Not a required system, an optional system. The system could be accessed from a web interface or a smartphone app. You would type a TN DL number into the web interface; the smart phone app would only require scanning the barcode on the back of TN driving licenses.   I would not support a proposal that required entering any form of weapon information. All I need to know is whether the buyer may legally own a gun. The type of weapon is irrelevant to the transaction.   Any "right" is only yours as long as you can protect it for yourself, or society can protect it for you. If you don't believe me, go to Los Angeles, and tell the local police that you have the right to keep and bear arms. You can even show them your TN carry permit. See how long society will protect your "right". Then, assuming you aren't in jail at this point, find the biggest, meanest, cartel thug you can then call him a [insert ethnic/homophobic slur of choice]. Then tell him you have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that society protects that right for you. Then come back here and let us know how it went.   In our current society, people who have committed a crime bad enough to be considered a "felony" have proven that they are incapable of following the rules of society. If you don't follow the rules of society, society isn't willing to allow you to keep your rights. Among other, you lose the rights to freedom of movement (i.e., not being a prisoner), voting, and the keeping and bearing arms. 

Background checks would keep felons and the mentally ill from getting a firearm from me.     I was just quoting the TICS FAQ: http://www.tbi.state.tn.us/firearm_check/firearm_faqs.shtml

TN's HCP doesn't satisfy NICS requirements because we don't have an annual renewal/background check.    I would be all for that, but getting the federal government to agree to non-FFL access to NICS would be harder than getting the state to agree to access to TICS (fewer people to convince). Getting rid of TICS would save state money, though.

Slightly off topic, but my wife mentioned the new car-carry bill and the officer informed her that that bill had NOT passed yet; that is was just talk. Thankfully, she didn't argue with him.