Guns and Ammo Enthusiast Blog A blog for and by Guns and Ammo Enthusiast's

Tennessee ccw holders now allowed to carry in parks

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Lawmakers also passed a measure okaying Tenneseeans with a license to carry to bring their weapons to the park.

The bill would allow permit holders to carry their weapons inside any state or local park, unless local governments vote to ban them.

Also passed by the senate…a bill allowing permit holders to transport ammunition and guns in their cars.

Both the house and the senate must work out their differences on the bill before it can be signed into law by the governor

Hide your gund and ammo better or you could be the next Man or Woman Held on $500,000 Bail for 30,000 Bullets!

Keni Garcia told police he intended to use the 30,000 bullets they found in his car and home for target practice.

That is hard to believe, the prosecutor at Garcia’s arraignment said, because if he were to fire a gun for eight hours a day, it would take weeks for him to use all of it.

Garcia, who allegedly bought thousands of rounds of ammunition and had 10,000 bullets in his car when he was stopped by police Thursday, was ordered held on $500,000 cash bail yesterday.

Attorney Socrates de la Cruz of Lawrence, who represented Garcia, 32, of 12 Freeman St., at his arraignment in Haverhill District Court, said he will appeal the high bail in Superior Court.

Garcia is charged with three counts of possession of a high-capacity firearm, illegal possession of ammunition and illegal storage of a firearm. His case was continued until June 12.

Assistant District Attorney Christopher Holland asked Judge Patricia Dowling to impose $750,000 cash bail.

“He has no reason to stay here,” Holland said.

The judge ordered Garcia to surrender his passport, and said that if he makes bail he is not to leave Massachusetts.

Garcia is a native of the Dominican Republic who was expected to become a U.S. citizen yesterday, but then he was arrested, authorities said.

Police arrested Garcia after he had left Interstate 495 at Exit 49 Thursday. They said they found 10,000 rounds of ammunition in his car. His two young daughters also were in the car, police said.

Holland said at Garcia’s arraignment that a “joint effort” by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and state police found that Garcia had previously bought 20,000 rounds of ammunition in New Hampshire.

Garcia told police he only intended to use the bullets for target practice at a rifle range, Holland said, disputing Garcia’s explanation. His common law wife, Elizabeth Reynoso, consented to a search and police found another 20,000 rounds, Holland said. They also found one .38-caliber and two 9 mm handguns, and $25,000 in cash, Holland said.

The prosecutor said all of the bullets seized from Garcia were for .38-caliber, 9 mm and .22-caliber firearms. Such ammunition is “like gold in the Dominican Republic,” he said.

Holland said Reynoso told police he had “a shipping type of business” and that the $25,000 in cash must have come from Garcia cashing a business check.

“Where is the crime?” de la Cruz asked. The lawyer said Garcia had lived in New Hampshire for three years before recently moving to Haverhill.

“He bought the guns legally,” de la Cruz said. “He never hid the fact that he had them.”

Furthermore, de la Cruz said that when Garcia moved to Haverhill, he had a 60-day grace period to obtain a Massachusetts firearms card.

“There is no crime committed,” he argued, saying there was no evidence that Garcia was shipping guns or ammunition to the Dominican Republic.

He asked the judge to allow his client “to go back to his job.” He said Garcia has worked at a local bakery for three years.

Yesterday, Freeman Street residents interviewed by The Eagle-Tribune said they did not know anything about Garcia or guns and ammunition being stored at or shipped from his home.

Medline Abiles, of 43 Freeman St., who resides across the street from Garcia’s house, said that in the two months she has lived in the neighborhood, she has not observed any weapons or ammunition and had no reason to be suspicious. Her sister, Carmen Reyes, who visits frequently, said she also had never noticed anything suspicious at the two-family house at 12 Freeman St.

Are you a gun owning patriot? Not all of us are!

I was in a gun store in a different town a few weeks ago. Someone was trying to purchase 9mm ammo, which the store didn’t have, and the clerk was decrying all the internet-driven hysteria that caused people to stock up on guns and ammunition. The clerk went on to claim that this buying spree by millions of people was stupid, as the government would NEVER pass laws to take away guns or ammunition, or infringe on the rights of Americans to keep and bear arms.

My guess was that the clerk either lived under a rock, or was simply as opinionated as he was uninformed. He was angry with the people buying up guns and ammo in large quantities, which made his job more difficult. I then went to another gun store that just happens to be a major interstate distributor that advertises in Shotgun News. There was about an hour wait just to get to the counter, and parking was a challenge.

People were rolling their purchases out on hand trucks. According to the clerk at the other store, all these folks were nutz, and they were responsible for causing his problems with obtaining and selling ammo.

The information found at the following link, then, must simply amount to more mass hysteria. After all, I heard about it from a professional gun sales clerk. Everyone fighting for gun rights can go home now. After all, they’re just paranoid, histrionic fools.

This reminds me of a few Saturdays ago when I stopped at the gun shop nearest my home, though it’s not my regular place. The parking lot was jammed and the store looked like a toy store three days before Christmas. Shoulder-to-shoulder people. Folks buying more than one gun. A guy buying a .44 Magnum. A newbie couple looking for his and her guns. Ammo flying off the shelves. The owner told me he just got in 10,000 rounds of .22 ammo and it was almost gone … already. We chatted for a bit, and on the way out he yelled out, “I love an armed America.” This guy gets it.

The gun shop I typically go to is owned/staffed by ex-army gents, they wear “Don’t Tread on Me” t-shirts, they understand the real reason for the political persecution of patriots and the run on guns, and they get it.

Fast forward to a semi-rural Wal-Mart in the ammo section. I was browsing behind a 70-ish man looking at what little ammo remained on the shelves. He said to the sporting goods department clerk: “What is up with the ammo supply lately?” The clerk responded, “I don’t know. Guess it has something to do with Obama.” A few others watched the conversation, looking riddled. I couldn’t resist informing these nitwits: “Folks, Obama remains a part of the picture but understand that there is an economic cataclysm on the horizon, and mostly, people just fear their government.” He was clearly uncomfortable with my words.

The reasons are clear to those of us who have followed and/or chronicled the decline of freedom over the last several presidential regimes. Always, whether it is a Republicrat or a Demopublican wearing the jackboot, there is the attempt on the part of the regime’s authoritarian torchbearers to disarm the American people in incremental steps. Since this nation’s beginnings, people everywhere have known that America, a nation born of secession and anti-authoritarian spirit, will be the toughest place on the planet to disarm. In spite of the progressive loss of freedom through creeping gun control legislation, overall, American patriots have withstood decades of challenges to the right to bear arms. The current race to stock up on defensive commodities means that some Americans are making it clear that any attempt at absolute gun control will be considered a crucial tipping point.

Yet Obama has made it clear he is anti-self-defense, along with his lieutenants Eric Holder, Rahm Emanuel, and Hillary Clinton. So why is gun control legislation, or even the reinstatement of the “assault weapon” ban, not transpiring at the same pace as the rest of Obama’s makeover? Because this regime and its henchmen understand that they have no backing in Congress right now for any such legislation. Sixty-five Dems wrote to the Attorney General in March and claimed they “would actively oppose any effort to reinstate the 1994 ban” and swore “a long and divisive fight” if any such legislation should be commenced.

Do these Democrats approve of an armed America? Are they patriots? No and no – they take great pleasure in keeping their jobs and they know that the time is not ripe for any gun control nonsense. The Senate leader, Harry Reid, is from Nevada, and his rural constituency would hang him on high were he to support any such verdict on guns. Don’t get me wrong – these cretins, who despise the self-sufficient, independent types who refuse to kowtow to despotic rule, will make the move to sweep across the plains and make America a gun-free, sitting-duck zone at first opportunity. After all, a disarmed America is an obedient, lifeless, submissive America. That’s the kind of America that Obama, and the rest of the world, wants.

Radical moves toward absolute gun control are high on this regime’s list of priorities. In fact, Obama’s lieutenants and their platoon of foot soldiers are quietly plugging away in the background, trying to drum up support for total disarmament. Obama is already promoting CIFTA, a far-reaching, international treaty that is mainly aimed at disarming U.S. citizens down to their underwear.

I have been to many gun shops and swap meets, in recent months, where gun & ammo sellers are clueless as to why the run on guns and ammo is happening. Not all gun shop proprietors or employees are on board the resistance train. There are solid gun folks who get it, and there are the hunting/clay disc types. It is up to us to separate the wheat from the chaff and recognize those who we can trust, as well as those who we cannot rely on when the sludge rolls down the pipe. All patriots are gun owners (or at least favorable toward guns and self-defense), but not all gun owners are patriots.

Are you an enimy of obama and his ilk?

As you’ve probably heard by now, the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning to law enforcement officials about a rise in “rightwing extremist activity,” labeling citizens opposed to new firearms restrictions, returning veterans and conservatives as “rightwing extremists” and associating them with white supremacists and violent antigovernment groups.

It’s right there in black and white, and it’s obvious that the Obama Administration, and especially the DHS under Janet Napolitano, is trying to demonize political dissent. And it’s no big surprise who’s directly in their crosshairs: CONSERVATIVES, including anyone “antagonistic toward the new presidential administration and its perceived stance on a range of issues, including immigration and citizenship, the expansion of social programs to minorities, and restrictions on firearms ownership and use.”

As if that first report wasn’t bad enough… the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis — the same unit that produced the report on right-wing extremists — then released a NEW report, titled the “Domestic Extremism Lexicon,” meant to define terms used when analyzing dozens of supposedly “extremist ideologies” inside the United States.
So what did this “dictionary” of extremist groups cover? Well, for starters: Jewish extremists, animal rights extremists, Christian identity extremists, black separatism extremists, anti-abortion extremists, anti-immigration extremists, anti-technology extremists, Cuban independence extremists and tax resistance extremists, to name a few. That’s right: Whites and blacks, Christians and Jews, Cubans and Mexicans, along with tax-hating Americans, are ALL in DHS’ “Domestic Extremism Lexicon.”
The first DHS report also said that Congressional debates about immigration and gun control make “extremist groups” suspicious and give them a rallying cry: “It is unclear if either bill will be passed into law; nonetheless, a correlation may exist between the potential passage of gun control legislation and increased hoarding of ammunition, weapons stockpiling, and paramilitary training activities among rightwing extremists,” the report said.

Why are they worried? Because since November, more than 7 million people have applied for criminal background checks in order to buy weapons. And as far as the Obama administration is concerned, buying guns equals “weapons stockpiling,” buying ammo equals “hoarding of ammunition,” and expressing concern about Congress passing gun control legislation qualifies YOU as part of an “extremist group.” Therefore, you and I are now being viewed as dangerous rightwing extremists that law enforcement officials need to be watching out for!
According to the federal government, characteristics of members of the suspect group of people include those who:
Oppose restrictions on firearms
Oppose lax immigration
Oppose the policies of President Obama regarding immigration, citizenship and the expansion of social programs
Oppose continuation of free trade agreements
Oppose same-sex marriage
Has paranoia of foreign regimes
Fear Communist regimes
Oppose one world government
Bemoan the decline of U.S. stature in the world
Is upset with the loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs to China and India

Is this true? Or are we being mislead to get us to back off?

What do you think? Is this true? Or are we being mislead to get us to back off?

Federal American Eagle is introducing Affordable Ammo for M1A, M1 Garand and .338

Federal adds three ammunition options for those who want a little trigger time that won’t break the bank. Followers of the popular and specialized M1A and M1 Garand rifles now have affordable loads that offer superb accuracy. In addition, hunters and shooters sporting a rifle chambered in .338 Federal now have a consistent, reliable and economic option.
Special Loads for Special Rifles
The M1A and M1 Garand are storied rifles that are very popular and have a huge following. A lot of the hunting ammunition today isn’t suitable for these special rifles. Federal now introduces two affordable, reliable American Eagle options.
“We know there is a very large number of shooters who use the M1A and M1 Garand rifles at the range,” said Kyle Tengwall, director of marketing. “Whether it’s practicing for a competition, or just spending some time at the range, these shooters need affordable loads that perform well. These new loads cater to this special segment of shooters, and we’re proud to offer them something that shoots great and is available at price that can’t be beat.”
These special loads use staked primers to reduce the risk of firearm malfunction, including slamfires. The M1 Garand load features a 150-gr FMJ bullet and a carefully selected propellant that produces pressures that match the gas system design. The M1A load utilizes a 168-grain Open Tip Match (OTM) bullet that gives match-grade accuracy at an unbeatable price.
Not Just for Big Game Bolt Rifles
The popularity of semi-auto and AR-style rifles today has lead to gun manufacturers chambering these firearms in larger calibers once only associated with big game hunting in bolt guns. Since its inception, the .338 Federal has garnered quite a following. The short-action, non-magnum cartridge achieves big-time performance levels without the recoil of larger calibers.
The increase in semi-automatic options for the .338 Federal has created a demand for an affordable and consistent option. For 2009, Federal introduces a 200-gr Soft Point offering under the Power-Shok™ line. These rounds will be suitable for the field or range, and give semi-auto shooters a great option for some high-volume shooting.
These new loads are available now. So get some and enjoy shooting.

Guns in Bars in TEN? Good Idea?

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Tuesday afternoon inside Guns & Ammo on Summer Eddy Wilson says he’s watched the new bill sponsored by Curry Todd of Collierville very closely and says he doesn’t have a strong feeling on the bill either way.

Wilson says, “I guess I’m rather neutral I can see both sides of the issues.” While Wilson says he understands the concerns from those opposed with the bill. He says as long as those who are carrying inside establishments are not drinking as the bill dictates and are obeying the letter of the proposed law there should not be any problems.

Wilson adds, “Every business owner has the right to post a sign that says no weapons allowed and that makes it the responsibility of the permit holder to adhere to those wishes.”

After our report aired Monday evening we received countless e-mails from across the country all in support of the bill.

One man writes:
“I seriously doubt that the same folks that are trustworthy to carry a firearm in a mall, in their car, walking down the street, will suddenly become less trustworthy once they enter a place with a liquor license.”

Another says:
“I carry to protect myself and my family and for no other reason, and those of us who’re not sheep feel it is not moral for others to expect us to become sheep for the slaughter just because we want to eat at one of the numerous restaurants that serve alcohol.”

While another adds:
“Truth is; most permit holders are more likely to go out of their way and yield to any aggressive behavior, because they know that anything to do with their gun will result in years of litigation, lawyer fees, and personal stress and so on.”

Wilson says, “I think most of your permit holders are law biding citizens and they’re going to adhere to the law.”

Look out Florida CCW holder’s, your state legislature have raided your state CCW fund to the tune of $6 Million dollars read to find out more

In a last minute sneak attack on gun owners, the Florida Legislature raided the concealed weapons and firearms licensing trust fund. This not only effects resident CCW license holders, but non-resident Florida license holders as well!

They took $6 million from the Division of Licensing Concealed Weapons and Firearm Trust Fund that is intended, by law, to be used solely for administering the concealed weapons and firearms licensing program. (Read background information below)

Please Call, Fax, or Email Governor Charlie Crist IMMEDIATELY, and ask him to veto the $6 Million trust fund sweep from the Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Division of Licensing authorized under Section 59 of the Conference Report of SB-2600.

Please send your email today!!!!!

And/or please contact the Governor’s office by phone or fax ASAP.

Phone number: (850) 488-4441 or (850) 488-7146
Fax number: (850) 487-0801

Send your email to the Governor at this address: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com

Some new facts are out about the Montana Guns and Ammo Law

The sticky tentacles have been cut off the Federal gun regulation octopus in the Big Sky State. The Bradys are apoplectic once again. Montana exercised its 10th Amendment state sovereignty as the Governor signed a law that exempts guns, accessories such as magazines, silencers, and ammunition made in the state of Montana from all Federal firearms regulation. The guns and ammunition can’t leave the state of Montana, and all guns made there must have “Made In Montana” stamped on them. There are no background checks, no serial numbers, and no paperwork.
The gun law is a gloves off slap in the face of the Federal Government and gun control groups.

The state believes that since the Montana made guns don’t cross state lines, then they are immune to all Federal Interstate commerce law’s regulation. The state believes that just as the second amendment’s “well regulated” militia, doesn’t refer to the National Guard, which was created a hundred or so years after the Second Amendment was written, regulation of interstate commerce doesn’t apply because nothing travels interstate between the states. Montanans believe that when the State was admitted to the Union that the Second Amendment was a contract between the State, The people, and the United States and that it guaranteed the right to keep and bear arms.

The Montana firearms industry isn’t big. There are just a few specialty gun makers there, and a few that make western re-creations. But, of course the implications are huge. Alaska and Texas are considering similar legislation. Colonel Travis would be proud of Texas. The state will go and further will arrest any Federal agents in Montana who try to enforce Federal gun law over Montana made guns and ammo.

This law will eventually be challenged in the US Supreme Court when the Federal Government fights it to regain lost control. Losing any power is not in politician’s blood, especially in the Obama administration.

There are exceptions to the Montana law.

“Section 5. Exceptions. [Section 4] does not apply to:
(1) A firearm that cannot be carried and used by one person;
(2) A firearm that has a bore diameter greater than 1 1/2 inches and that uses smokeless powder, not black powder, as a propellant;
(3) ammunition with a projectile that explodes using an explosion of chemical energy after the projectile leaves the firearm; or
(4) a firearm that discharges two or more projectiles with one activation of the trigger or other firing device.”

Possible anti gunner arguments to void the law by claiming that it is interstate commerce:
1. These products are made from non-Montana steel, aluminum, plastics, lead, and other components which had to cross state line to get to the Montana manufacturer…etc.

2. The US Attorney argues that the Court must follow Wickard v Fillmore- 317 U.S. 111 (1942) a depression recovery era case where a wheat farmer produced twice his farm’s wheat allotment. The farmer argued that the other half of his wheat was for personal consumption, that it would stay in the state, and it would not enter interstate commerce.

WARNING: TWISTED SUPREME COURT LEGAL LOGIC FOLLOWS BELOW:
The US Supreme Court in using bizarre logic to find against the farmer said that if he hadn’t grown the extra wheat, then he would have had to have bought it through interstate commerce for personal use.

In a “sky is falling argument,” the Court said though his theoretical small purchase of wheat might not be substantial, if a lot of farmers did this, then it would become substantial and affect the price of wheat and; thus, his production of wheat was federally regulated under the Commerce Clause.

This case allowed almost anything to be regulated under the Commerce Clause.
The danger in a liberal court is a ruling against Montana using the same bizarre logic and the “Stare Decisis” legal theory of following prior rulings, strange as they are.

Mexico keeps a tight hold on captured guns and ammo

Deep inside a heavily guarded military warehouse, the evidence of Mexico’s war on drug cartels is stacked two stories high: tens of thousands of seized weapons, from handguns to AK-47s, some with gun sights carved into the shape of a rooster or a horse’s head.

The vault nestled in a Mexican military base is the government’s largest stash of weapons — 88,537 of them — seized from brutal drug gangs. The Associated Press was recently given rare and exclusive access to the secure facility.

The sheer size of the cache attests to the seemingly hopeless task of ever sorting and tracing the guns, possibly to trafficking rings that deliver weapons to Mexico. And security designed to keep the guns from getting back on the streets is so tight that even investigators have trouble getting the access they need.

The guns are stacked to the two-story ceiling in a warehouse the size of a small Wal-Mart. The rifles lie on 22 metal racks; the pistols hang from metal poles by their triggers.

The security, bolstered by closed-circuit cameras and motion detectors, makes the warehouse practically impenetrable, said Gen. Antonio Erasto Monsivais, who oversees the armory.

The military has 305,424 confiscated weapons locked in vaults, just a fraction of those used by criminals in Mexico, where an offensive by drug cartels against the military has killed more than 10,750 people since December 2006. But each weapon is a clue to how the cartels are getting arms, and possibly to the traffickers who brought them here.

The U.S. has acknowledged that many of the rifles, handguns and ammunition used by the cartels come from its side of the border. Mexican gun laws are strict, especially compared with those in most U.S. border states.

The Mexican government has handed over information to U.S. authorities to trace 12,073 weapons seized in 2008 crimes — particularly on guns from large seizures or notorious crimes.

But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which handles the U.S. investigations, is at the mercy of local Mexican police for the amount and quality of the information.

“Many of these rural municipalities that may come into a gun seizure … may not even know anything about tracing guns,” ATF spokesman Thomas Mangan said.

A police officer in Mexico submits a description, a serial number and distinctive markings of the gun. The weapons are then turned over to the military for storage in one of a dozen armories such as the one in Mexico City.

When U.S. investigators need additional details, as they often do, the request goes back to the original police officer, who must retrieve the gun from a military vault — sometimes hundreds of miles away.

Mexican police must ask permission each time they need to look at a stored gun, Monsivais said. Even if that permission is granted, the investigator cannot go past the metal fencing separating a reception desk and the shelves holding the guns. A soldier has to bring out the requested weapons.

The security, language differences and bureaucracy add up to a painstaking process, said J. Dewey Webb, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Houston Field Division.

“The military does a very good job, when the weapons come into their custody, of securing them,” he told the AP. “Because of the systems in Mexico, it’s very difficult for us to get in.”

Webb said recent talks between the two countries were beginning to ease access, but he noted other problems.

Many mistakes are made because of difficulty translating technical terms about firearms, Webb said. A Spanish-language version of eTrace, the Web-based method of submitting tracing information, won’t be available until next year.

About a third of the guns submitted for tracing in 2007 were sold by licensed U.S. dealers.

U.S. agents need the information to track the gun back to the manufacturer and determine when it was made and what wholesaler it was shipped to, ATF spokeswoman Franceska Perot said. Agents follow the gun to the local licensed dealer who sold it and determine the buyer.

ATF offices around the U.S. are swamped with tracing requests, trying to determine who actually bought the weapons and whether they were part of a firearms trafficking scheme. The ATF has sent an extra 100 agents to Houston to help unclog the 700-weapon backlog as part of its Project Gunrunner.

The seized weapons are kept in the vaults as long as they are needed as evidence, Monsivais said. Most have been there for years, an indication of how slowly criminal investigations proceed and how few crimes are solved.

When the criminal investigations are complete, most of the weapons are destroyed and melted down. Some of the more powerful arms, such as machine guns and sniper rifles, are added to the military’s own arsenal. Showpieces are destined for museums.