I hope everyone has a terrific Independence Day holiday!
Para Ordinance Warthog compact 1911 .45 ACP pistol and the National Colors. Click to maximally magnificate.
Firearms
My Precious
The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling today, that the Washington DC gun ban is unconstitutional. Five justices got it right that the constitution and the Bill of Rights are precious. So to honor the good court’s precious decision, I present you with my precious . . .
Pins and Needles
I guess that SCOTUS is saving the best for last. The Court, once again, did not announce the DC vs. Heller opinion.
The following is from ScotusBlog:
Guns is not being decided today. Last opinion coming now.
UPDATE: HELLER AFFIRMED! (6/26/2008 10:12 AM EDT)
We can now predict that in addition to Justice Scalia likely writing Heller, Justice Alito is likely writing Davis v. FEC.
The Chief Justice has announced from the courtroom that the Court will issue all of its remaining opinions tomorrow at 10 a.m. Eastern.
To recap for those watching the Heller decision, it will definitely be decided tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow, the Court will issue its remaining three decisions: Heller (DC Guns), Davis v. FEC (campaign finance), and American Electric Power (energy contracts).
Clarification: while it appears that Justice Scalia has the principle [sic] opinion in the Guns case, it is not necessarily a majority opinion. It could be a plurality opinion.
What does that last one mean? (Gulp!)
UPDATE: HELLER AFFIRMED! (6/26/2008 10:12 EDT) Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm. Justice Scalia wrote the opinion. Justice Breyer dissented, joined by Justices Stevens, Souter and Ginsburg. The vote is along idealogical lines, left and right.
Wayward Brass
It was a pretty normal day at the range today, albeit a little bit warm inside. We took our usual suite of firearms – the .45s, 9mm, .357s and shotguns. We also did our usual thing by making videos and taking photos to view later and maybe post on the blog. All this was completely normal as Damsel took the video of me shooting the Glock 30 – until the eighth round, that is – the brass flew out of the breech and landed – well – in a delicate place as far as Damsel was concerned.
The red marks from the hot brass casing were visible hours later. Oh yes – I have her permission to include the ‘delicate place’ photo at the end of the video on the right.
Rated PG – this sort of brings a new definition to the ‘tap, rack, bang’ phrase . . .
My Girl Gun
You have to admit that most guys would avoid taking a picture of their guns on a pink towel in the laundry basket. This little baby goes with me everywhere, even when I do the laundry.
I think she’s pretty with her red rosewood grips and shiny black frame.
Hearts and Flowers
Damsel takes a lot of pictures. When she’s not taking photos of flowers, she just might be capricious enough to arrange nineteen rounds of 9mm +P+ hollow points into a heart-shape and take some pictures of the resulting ‘sculpture.’
As for the rounds themselves, I picked up a box of 50 Winchester SXT 127 grain Luger +P+ rounds to keep in the Glock 26 magazine for home protection. The box warns not to use these rounds in pistols not rated for +P+ loads, since they produce about 25 percent higher pressure when discharged.
I selected these rounds because of the greater stopping power it provides my backup home defense pistol. Damsel selected them for the photo for being shiny and photogenic.
We’re sort of a left-brain, right-brain complimentary pair. 🙂
Ithaca 20 Gauge Single Shot
I’ve had this old shotgun for over forty years. There were periods during those years where it didn’t see much use. A few years ago, Damsel and I bought some guns and started shooting regularly. Shortly after, I took the old gun off the shelf and cleaned it up. It really needed a lot of elbow grease to get the fine layer of oxydation off of the metal parts and the stock and fore-end needed a little scrubbing and oil. Now the old Ithaca gets to go to the range two or three times a year.
I took it today and put just five rounds through it. The Remington 870s pump action guns sort of spoil us because you load the chamber and the magazine and crank out five or seven rounds. This old gun, in contrast, requires you break the chamber open, load a round, cock the hammer, point and shoot.
The newer guns make me lazy, I guess, and I don’t shoot the old gun very much just because it’s tedious. But, my old Ithaca is fun to shoot once in a while just because it’s an old friend to me.