1gewehr

Quoted mostly anti-gun folks as usual.  Mentioned Mt Juliet as offering free Concealed-Carry training for teachers.  Quoted Haslam and Harwell as saying they would prefer a government program to provide new police officers for schools.  Gee, who would have thought they would want a huge government program with lots of additional spending and new government employees!   They did mention three bills that would provide school security.  Campfield's bill to provide three options is obviously the best, so it's a sure bet that it will be tabled.  His options are: 1)  school provides an armed resource officer.  2)  School allows teachers with CCW to carry.  or, 3)  School accepts all liability.

Again, we see the phrase 'gun violence'.  Which is the problem they want to solve, guns or violence?  If you want to reduce violence, gun control does not work.  Never has.  If you want disarm the people, then gun control is exactly what they want.  But the two goals are counter-productive.  More guns in private hands leads to less violent crime.   Fewer guns in private hands leads to more violent crime.

Proper answer to this line of cr@p:  "If you won't even protect your own children, why do you expect others to do it?"   Seriously, this woman thinks that she is protecting her children from 'guns'.  But she will not take any steps whatsoever to protect them from someone who intends to do them harm.  I cannot think of a more flawed logic than that.   When our son was young, I had a woman in our church ask us whether we had guns before a church group outing.  I answered "Yes, we think that our son is too precious to be left without someone to defend him against evil.  How about you?"  The conversation turned ugly after that.  Liberals hate logic, you know.

The fact that he sees 'gun violence' as a problem is all you really need to know.  He is a liberal.  I have yet to find one liberal who can answer the question of why 'gun violence' is worse than 'knife, baseball bat, or tire iron violence'.  Isn't the real problem just violent crime?  And if you want to address the problem of violent crime, then you will quickly see that gun control offers no solutions.   When Newtown first happened on the news, I imagine that at least 2 million carry permit holders had the thought that if they had been there, they may have been able to stop the killer.  Of course, the next thought would have been to remember that it's illegal to carry on school grounds.  How ironic.  There are at least ten million carry permit holders, and we will never know if one of them MIGHT have stopped a school shooting because they are prohibited by law from even trying.

Numbers 1 and 2 will not work.   For 1, you have not considered a situation where the family member ALREADY works for the government.  What about a family member serving in the military?  Or as a civilian contractor for the government?  Do you really want to take away someone's livelihood?  I believe it would be enough to make it illegal to use their influence to help a family member receive a government contract.  But that is already covered as a 'conflict of interest'.  It's just not enforced.   For 2, I have a serious problem with that.  We already have too much government sizing and freezing of assets going on.  Do you really want to allow them MORE power to do that?  And what's to stop them from expanding that to others?  You are setting a very bad precedent!   The main problem we have right now is that the group responsible for upholding the law, The Justice Department, is instead the organization that gets to choose WHO to prosecute and who to ignore.  In fact, the Justice Department can be said to be the biggest crooks of all.  After all, they gave us Fast&Furious, have not prosecuted Jon Corzine (remember MF Global and the 'lost' $1.6Billion), allow Democrats to get away with pretty much anything, and ignored all instances of Democrat voter fraud from 2008 through 2012.   We have a classic case of the Wolf guarding the Sheep.  Or, you might view it as the old 'protection racket'.  As long as we allow ourselves to get fleeced and don't cause government any problems, then they will make sure that nothing bad happens like an IRS investigation, criminal prosecution for violating environmental laws, accidental SWAT raid based on a confidential informant, etc.   I fear that we are beyond having the ability to muzzle the Federal wolf by voting.  I believe that our last hope for reducing Federal power is through the power of the states.    If our state governments stand up to the Feds, then we have a chance.

Oooh, classic Beretta 1934!  A shame to lose such a nice pistol!    Perfectly safe to carry on half-cock with a round in the chamber.  The half-cock is very strong and it will not fire if dropped like that.  The safety is a joke, so you should not carry it cocked and locked.   I can't help but think that something like this can happen to anyone.  We are all human and subject to making mistakes.  In this case, praise should go to the two kids who acted properly, and to their parents who got them into Boy Scouts for good training.

Excellent!  A few VERY telling statistics there. 1)  Violent crime and murder rates in the US are HALF what they were 20 years ago! 2)  The vast majority of violent crime in the US are in cities over 250,000 population, and concentrated in specific neighborhoods. 3)  Violent crime in England and Wales is twice as high as in the US.  But the murder rate is lower.  And also concentrated in specific neighborhoods in cities over 250,000. 4)  Rifles of all varieties account for less than 3% of the firearms used in crimes in the US.  And the AR-15 is only ONE type of rifle among all types that account for that 3%.   If that doesn't show that gun control is not about crime, I don't know what will!

The 'waffenampt' mark should be 'waa140'.  The serial number puts it right towards the end of the war.  The rough finish would be in keeping with that.  Towards the end of the war, stamps became worn and were not replaced.  So the markings can be hard to read.   You should be aware that late-war FN products should be treated as collector's items and fired with caution.  As the war progressed, the workers at FN became more bold and capable of sabotage by poor heat-treating, machining in defects, and causing other problems. I have a Nazi-marked HP with a tiny slot cut into the slide on the inside under the ejection port at the breech.  Brilliant work of sabotage as you REALLY have to look to see it even if you know it is there!

There are three variations of the Egyptian Helwan.  All will likely have the Arabic writing on the slide.  First are the ones actually made by Beretta at their plant in Italy.  They will have 'Made In Italy' on the frame.  These are first-rate quality, and are identical to the pistols Beretta sold commercially. Second are the ones made in Egypt while Beretta was still running the production there.  The finishing will be thinner and final machining less polished.  But these are still good pistols. Finally, we have the guns made after the Beretta techs left the plant.  These are hit or miss.  Parts may be hand-fitted and not fully interchangeable.  There are usually obvious machining marks and may be burrs (unless the gun has some wear).  Heat-treating of the locking block and slide may not be correct, so look for cracks on those parts.  These are the guns that give the Helwan a bad name.  Generally, the lower the serial number, the better chance that the quality is good. In the 1980's a bunch were made for commercial sale and imported by Navy Arms.  The quality of these guns varies greatly.  Some are obviously 'parts guns' made from whatever spare parts they had laying around.  Others are of pretty good quality.   Generally, if the pistol looks like a quality product, it will be fine.  But do check the locking block and the slide for cracks and wear in the locking areas.   Because the bad ones give it a bad name, the Helwan usually sells for $200-$250 these days.  Magazines can be hard to find and expensive, so if it comes with spares that would be nice.

  It's not a 'workforce issue'.  It's a plastic injection molding production line.  According to the Magpul rep at the NRA convention in April, they were already running at full production to try to get ahead of demand.  The only way to increase production is to make an additional production line.  VERY expensive!  And a permanent cost to supply what everyone hopes is a temporary spike in demand.

Why are you watching CNN?  You will get more accurate, factual information from Pravda.   Seriously, guys.  TV 'news' is a really bad source of information.  Look at how much they got wrong in the initial reports from the recent shooting in CT.  They named the wrong person as the shooter, said his mother was a teacher, said he had also killed his father, and got a lot of other stuff wrong as well.  They are not in the business of providing actual facts.  They are in the business of entertaining you and creating a 'story'.  Watching TV news to get facts is about as useful as watching CSI for the science.

In stock, GI-issue form, all three rifles are normally about 2-3moa out of the box.  The M1A and M1 can be tuned to get under 1moa.  The FAL was not designed for that.  While folks have and can build a 1moa FAL, it's neither cheap, nor easy.  My favorite FAL shoots reliably at 1.5moa with Australian surplus ammo.  I bought a boat-load back when it was available.  It shoots just over 3moa with the more common Portuguese surplus.  Go figure.  Other folks have said their rifles like the Portuguese, British, South African, German, or other ammo better.  My rifle shoots it all.  It's just most accurate with Aussie.   I prefer the FAL for it's ergonomics, reliability, quick cleaning, and ability to use ANY .308 ammo out there.  The M1A does not have an adjustable gas system, and you must tune the rifle if you use heavier or lighter loads than normal GI-spec ammo.  The Garand should ONLY be fired with ammo spec'd for the Garand.  Heavy bullets are notorious for bending expensive operating rods.   If you decide you must use glass, the FAL and M1A are the best platforms.  Simply because they both have excellent quality easy-to-install mounts available.  Scoping a Garand is best done by making it an M1D clone.  That involves machine work (or buying a new barrel), and modifying the stock and handguard.   All three are proven combat designs.  Keep in mind that the more you modify it, the more you will likely affect reliability or durability.  There are some amazingly accurate M1As out there.  But, those rifles are kept scrupulously clean and never see rainy, muddy, or sandy conditions.

For some reason, the Yugo rifles do not have chromed bores.  And I guess they didn't make troops clean them as I've seen a lot of Yugo rifles with really nasty bores. All the Chinese and Russian SKS rifles I've seen had chromed bores.  I've seen a lot of Chinese SKS rifles that looked really ratty on the outside, but look like they have been rarely fired inside. 

'Aggregated'?  Hmm, I've never seen that before.  Can you take a video of that?   I've had two digital scales.  The first was a Dillon in the late 1990's.  It was pretty good, but two years ago,  a battery leaked and that was the end of it.  that's what I got for being a cheapskate and using discount, no-name batteries.  I then bought a RCBS Rangemaster 750.  It's been a good, reliable, and accurate scale.   Electronic scales are AMAZINGLY accurate.  In fact, most problems people have come from that.  They are affected by everything around them.  Temperature changes, tiny breezes, vibrations, etc.  All of this can be easily handled as long as you keep it in mind when you use the scale.  Here is my scale checklist: 1)  Turn off all fans. 2)  Make sure all vibrating/motorized equipment is turned off (brass polishers, electric motors, etc). 3)  Use the check weights to 'zero' the scale. 4)  When using the scale, stand or sit still until the weight settles. 5)  Don't use crappy chinese batteries!

I will GLADLY compromise!!!  I would like for ALL gun laws to disappear!  I'll compromise and agree to get rid of only the 1934 NFA and 1994 Brady Act (for now). :rofl:   Compromise works two ways.  All I have heard is THEIR way, not OUR way!  We need to take the battle to them.  Let them realize that letting them keep ANY gun laws is a compromise to us. :usa:

Those who can shoot without a scope will be equally adept with a scope-mounted rifle.  The reverse is not true.    If it were me, I would buy one finished rifle of my choice, as well as a receiver for the second rifle.  The receiver is the controlled part which is liable to be banned or have reduced availability in the future.  With the receiver in hand, you can then build the rest of the rifle as funds permit.   Also, scopes and mounts can be added to any of those rifles at a later date.  So, you might buy two rifles and get the scopes as finances permit.   As for which rifle to choose, hopefully someone down towards the southern part of the state will answer.  As for me, if you want to meet at the Stones River range some Saturday next year, I'll bring a FAL, Garand, and M1A so that you can try them all.  None of my rifles have scopes, though.

Previously posted on Tea Party Nation.   What you have heard from many politicians and news commentators IS correct. It IS time to have a reasonable discussion about Gun Control. Let's start with the absolute FACT that gun-free zones and gun control have been dismal failures at preventing crime and mass killings. The highly-publicized shootings at the theater in Aurora, Colorado and now at an elementary school in Connecticut should have proven those facts beyond any doubt.   So lets look at what our leaders have come up with as a way to stop or reduce such incidents. More gun control. Oh, sure, since the gun-free zones and existing gun control have done such a good job, let's have more of it. We have just seen 22 6 year-old children sacrificed on the altar of THAT absurd idea.   In one of the most gun free zones in the world, a man with a knife stabbed and slashed 22 children at a school in China on the same day that 22 children in the US were being shot to death (1). And NBC News reported that this was not the only such incident in China (2). A string of such incidents in early 2010 resulted in over 20 deaths and more than 50 wounded. the largest mass murder in the US, was done by a farmer who killed 44 people and injured another 58 when he blew up a school in Bath, MI. No amount of gun control could have stopped any of those.   The BBC recently reported that handgun murders INCREASED in the two years after the UK confiscated nearly all of the legally-owned handguns in the country (3). And other countries with very strict gun control have seen mass murders as well. In Norway last summer, Anders Breivik killed 77 people before being stopped by a heavily-armed SWAT team (4). In 2009, a 17 year-old in Germany killed 15 and wounded 11 (5).   So, having shown that Gun Control does NOT work, what is there with a proven record of stopping such violence?   Someone with a gun.   Is it preferable to have a murderer free to continue methodically killing until the police arrive, or to have somebody on the scene with at least a chance to stop him?   Ideally, you would want a fully-armed Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, Marine Recon, or other elite warrior, on hand and ready to place their lives between a killer and innocent children. Sadly, mass murderers very rarely attack innocent people when there are armed warriors around. In fact, you could say that they intentionally plan their attacks for places where such armed warriors are NOT present.   However, there are a very large number of armed people who have often shown that they have not only the ability, but the willingness to place themselves between killers and their victims.   In the US, there are at least 9.6 million potential civilian concealed handgun carriers. There are several states that do not require permits to carry a concealed weapon, so there is no telling how many of them may be armed. But with almost 10 million folks that may be armed, there is a good chance that someone you see today is carrying a weapon.   Just last week, there was a shooting at a mall in Oregon. After killing two people, the shooter, with several working firearms and lots of ammunition left, suddenly decided to kill himself. He was suddenly confronted by an armed citizen with a handgun, who was carrying that weapon in spite of signs that posted the mall as a Gun-Free zone (6). There is no way to know how many lives were saved by that decision. And that was not the only time in recent history that a mass-murderer was stopped by an armed citizen (7). 2012 - church, Aurora, CO 2012 - store, Santa Clara, CA 2012 - RV Park, Early, TX 2010 - store, New York Mills, NY 2009 - store, Richmond, VA 2009 - birthday party, College Park, GA 2007 - New Life Church, Colorado Springs, CO 2007 - bar, Winnemuca, NV 2002 - Appalachian School of Law, Grundy, VA 1998 - school dance, Edinboro, PA 1997 - Pearl High School, Pearl, Mississippi 1995 - store, Muskegon, MI 1991 - Shoney's, Anniston, AL   Sadly, mass murderers who are stopped do not get very much attention from the news. In fact, murders and other crimes that are stopped by armed civilians do not get reported very often. Sometimes, the story is reported, but the fact that an armed person stopped the crime is not mentioned.   For the past fifty years, we have been told that guns are bad. And that civilians with guns will cause murder rates to rise, 'Wild-West' shootouts, and 'blood in the streets'. Firearm ownership has increased during that time, as have the numbers of concealed carry permit holders. And what has happened? Murder rates have DECLINED. And violent crime has declined most in places that have made civilian concealed carry possible (8, 9). Whether there is an actual correlation between those two statistics is in debate. But the FACT is that the 'Wild-West', and 'blood-in-the-streets' nightmares have NOT happened. And the most significant fact is that while firearm ownership has gone UP, violence has not. So obviously, having guns around does NOT cause violence.   Those who propose to confiscate all firearms and/or ammunition from civilians are just ignorant. Making either firearms and/or ammunition is not rocket science. This is a technology that is hundreds of years old and widely known. Anyone with simple skills and a minumum of tools can accomplish it. People with primive tools and materials make machine guns and ammunition under the harshest conditions (10). Does anyone believe that a nation of craftsman-hobbyists cannot accomplish it as well?   The conclusion is that our national policy of not allowing legally-armed citizens to carry in schools and other 'gun-free zones' has been a disaster. It has allowed an untold number of needless murders, and made our children into defenseless targets for anyone seeking to end their life with national headlines. It is time to reverse this idiocy and allow those who are willing and able to defend the innocent.   It is time to eliminate 'gun-free zones' and other restrictive laws, and restore the right of the citizens to protect their lives, loved ones, and property.     1) http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/14/15901085-villager-slashes-22-kids-with-knife-at-elementary-school-gates-in-china?lite 2) http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/14/15901085-villager-slashes-22-kids-with-knife-at-elementary-school-gates-in-china?lite 3) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1440764.stm 4) http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/13/world/europe/norway-massacre-report/index.html 5) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/11/germany-school-shooting-winnenden-albertville 6) http://www.mrctv.org/videos/media-blackout-oregon-mall-shooting-stopped-licensed-gun-carrier 7) http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2012/12/mass-killings-stopped-by-armed-citizens.html 8) http://www.wral.com/news/state/nccapitol/story/11204311/ 9) http://www.handgunsmag.com/2012/06/20/2011-fbi-violent-crime-stats-gun-ownership-upcrime-rates-drop/ 10) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JajLlxEiXxg

The NRA has gotten MUCH better since 1994.  And the reason the NRA has gotten better is because the members told it to get better.  In 1994, the NRA helped write the AW bill and the Brady Act.  The flak they got over that is still a sore spot with the leadership.   In 1994, 'ugly guns' were not something the NRA was going to really fight for.  And just mentioning the words 'National Firearms Act' caused Wayne LaPierre to run away as fast as he could at the 2000 National Convention in Charlotte.  This year at the convention in St Louis, he did NOT run away.  He made no promises, aside from admitting that US v. Miller was a bad decision.  Still, that's a HUGE leap forward from Charlotte.   They have made a lot of progress.  And it's because the membership has insisted on it.  I'm still pushing for the NRA to get ANY gun law repealed as that is something they have never done.  But, I feel confident that as long as we keep making noise, it will eventually happen.

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/curios-relics.html

ATF says that EVERY C&R firearm you acquire or dispose of while you have a license MUST be logged in or out.  For once, the law is pretty clear about this.  This ONLY applies to C&R firearms, though.   Since your shotgun is over 50 years old, it is automatically a C&R and thus must be logged in.

Tragic, just tragic.  As posted before, we all need to pray for the families and victims.    As usual, the bodies aren't even cool before the calls for gun control start.  In spite of the fact that these killings happened in states with very strong gun control.

True.  I do not see how the two things are related.  Senator Beavers has been a very strong supporter of the Republican Party, so this appears to me to be another mistake on the part of teh leadership.

The only thing I can think of are the shenanigans behind the 2010 TN senate race. To summarize; Mrs. Beavers decided to run for Wilson County Mayor instead of reelection to TN Senate.  Based on that public announcement and filing, TN Representative Susan Lynn decided to run for that TN Senate seat.  Shortly before filing ended, Mrs. Beavers changed her mind and filed for the TN Senate seat, and did not notify Mrs. Lynn.  This left Mrs. Lynn no choice but to run against Mrs. Beavers.  The race run by Mrs. Beavers was not clean, and had a lot of mean half-truths and innuendos thrown at Mrs. Lynn.    Quite frankly, while I agree with Mae Beavers' voting positions most of the time, I agree more often with Susan Lynn and the deciding factor in my vote would be based on character.

What's truly sad is that Republicans seem to have an inability to learn from their success.   In 1994, the 'Contract with America' proposed a large reduction in the size and power of government.  Republicans won hugely in that election.  Since then, they have moved ever further to the left, and steadily lost influence and power.  Oh, wait, they GAINED a lot during the 2010 elections when they had a message of...  Hmm, what was it?  Oh, yes!  'A reduction in the size and power of government'!   It took them 16 years to re-try the 'small government' message.  Perhaps we won't have to wait quite as long next time.  I sincerely believe that if Romney had been vocal with a better message than "I'm not Obama", he probably would have won.   As for TN Republicans, the leadership seems determined to make the same stupid mistakes as the National leadership.

If she can find the original paperwork from the Army allowing it to be sent home, it can be added to the Registry. If that happens, it will be a $15K machine gun. Otherwise, it's a $1000 parts kit as the receiver will have to be destroyed. I have no idea where they go the idea it's worth $30,000. I've never seen a legally transferable STG44 sell that high. Also, most were issued to normal Army units, not 'SS'. The first large issue went to a Waffen SS unit trapped by the Russians. After that, most went to Panzer Grenadiers (Mechanized Infantry) or regular Infantry Regiments. Over 425,000 were made.