Buddy Holly! The Big Bopper! Ritchie who?

I was reminded of a conversation I had once, with someone twenty or so years older than me, right after the movie "La Bamba" came out in 1987. He was referring to what the reaction was in southern Ohio after the February 3, 1959 plane crash that took the lives of Buddy Holly, JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson and Ritchie Valens. He wasn't trying to sell anyone short. It takes things a while to make it to southern Ohio. Probably more so back then. This day is commonly referred to as "The Day The Music Died."

The reason I was reminded of this conversation was an announcement that was made on January 18, 2006. The Winchester plant in New Haven, Connecticut will cease all production at the end of March 2006. So will end the production of the Model 70 bolt action rifle, the Model 94 lever action rifle and the Model 1300 Pump Action Shotgun.

Noooooo! Not the 70! AAAAAAh! No more 94's! The what? Oh yeah. The 1300.

Two Ledgends and perhaps one in the making. The Model 70 began production in 1936 and became known as "The Rifleman's Rifle." The new Model 70 was introduced in 1964 and a lot of shooters and hunters are still complaining 42 years later. Not only was the rifle more or less redesigned but the controlled round feed bolt was replaced with a push round feed and the free floating barrel to stock fitment left a space large enough for small game animals to hide. Twenty years later in 1994, Winchester finally came around and went back to a pre '64 type action. The claw extractor, fixed blade ejector and controlled round feed bolt were back. Some models now have a controlled round push Feed which combines the best qualities of both. The Model 70 is perhaps the most imitated bolt action rifle in history. The three position safety is almost without doubt the most ingenious bolt action safety ever devised and I doubt that fact will ever change.

The Model 94 began production in 1894 and, by way of clever marketing, became known as "The Gun That Won The West." That slogan is still used 100 years later and even though the 94 didn't win the west, it sure did put a lot of meat in the freezer. The 94 chambered in 30 WCF (.30-.30) has taken more deer that any other rifle. That's what I've heard, read and whole heartedly believe to be fact. I can't tell you how many people I've heard say "I took my first deer with an old thirty-thirty." The explosive popularity of The Single Action Shooting Society has put both old and new 94's at a demand that is at an all time high. The 94 has been around for 112 years and I have a feeling someone somewhere will still be making them 112 years from now. They just won't be stamped on the barrel "MADE IN NEW HAVEN, CONN. U.S.A."

The model 1300 came into existence in 1978. The youngest of the three at 28 years of age. Not that long compared to the other two. I never thought the 1300 got a fair shake. It had big shoes to fill. In the world of pump guns the model 12 is the stick by which all others are measured. Sure others have been made longer and sold more but, someone once wrote "The Winchester Model 12 points like the hand of God." I don't foresee any pump living up to that standard.

In 1866 Oliver Winchester bought control of the New Haven Arms Company and changed the name to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The history actually starts twelve years before that, but that's when the barrels started to say "WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS, MADE IN NEW HAVEN, CONN. U.S.A." And now is when it ends.

I have a 94 in my safe. Chambered in .30-.30. Made in the early 1900's. I pick up my 70 in a few days. It's a brown laminated coyote in blue. Chambered in .270 WSM. Brand new, and the dealer didn't gouge me on the price like so many are doing now that the end of them is near. I don't own a 1300. I have a 12 that was made before 1920. Points like the hand of God.

Spread the Joy

It seems I am picking on the Brady's a lot. Well just to be fair, I think the folks at the Violence Policy Center are a bunch of idiotic morons too.

The Spin

The Brady's have taken to calling Castle Doctrine, or "Stand Your Ground" laws, "Shoot First" laws. Castle Doctrine allows a person to use deadly force, if necessary, to defend their life and the life of others, if they are in a place they are legally allowed to be, without the duty to retreat.

Just to let you know, the person who fires the first shot often is the only one to fire a shot. If I ever have the misfortune of being confronted by deadly force, I damn sure want to be the one to "Shoot First."

I think they should rethink their spin.

Silliness Ought-Six

This is from the NRA-ILA website. www.nraila.org


Same Old Silliness, Different Year

Friday, March 10, 2006

Brady Campaign’s LatestAnnual “Grades” for State Gun Laws

Every year since 1997, the Brady Campaign, previously known as Handgun Control, Inc., has “graded” the states on their gun laws. It released its 2005 grades on March 9, 2006.

Brady’s premise is simple. It supports gun prohibition and laws that inch closer to gun prohibition, so it naturally believes there are not enough gun laws. In the group’s press release announcing its new “grades,” its chair, Sarah Brady, says, “we have done almost nothing, at the state or Federal level, to make it harder for either a terrorist, garden variety armed robber, or young person to get their hands on a handgun.” This is an incredible statement, given that the Brady Act, for which the group claims credit, requires a criminal background check on anyone who purchases a firearm from a firearm dealer, and given the fact that there are many other federal and state gun laws.

Brady’s approach to its “grades” is equally simple: the fewer a state’s restrictions on guns, the lower the grade, and conversely, more state gun control laws equate to a higher grade. This year, Brady gives 32 states an “F” or “D” (10 “Fs” and 22 “Ds”) and the average “grade” for the 50 states is a “D+”, about the same as in previous years.

However, there is no correlation between Brady’s grades and violent crime or firearm-related deaths. For example, six of the 10 states Brady gives an “F”, and 13 of the 22 states Brady gives a “D”, have violent crime rates below the national rate.

There is also no correlation between Brady’s grades and trends in violent crime or gun-related deaths. Since 1991, violent crime has declined every year, 39% overall, to a 30-year low (and murder has declined to a 39-year low), and since 1993 the firearm-related death rate has decreased 32% among the whole population and decreased 63% among children. Yet, as noted, Brady’s grades are essentially unchanged from year to year, mostly “Fs” and Ds”.

The Price of Tea in China

China is a member of the UN security council. The UN would like to ban small arms ownership by private citizens worldwide. Forgive me for not being able to quote exact words or remember names as I cannot find this information via Google. A Chinese delegate to the UN made a comment that the United States is barbaric for allowing its citizens to own guns.

Hmmmm. Let's see. Now why do you suppose the Chinese would be against the citizens of the US owning guns.

By the way the Chinese people are forbidden to own firearms. Look how well that's working out.

Kudos to Ben Stein

The following is from The American Spectator.


Missed Tributes
By Ben Stein
Published 3/6/2006 2:08:21 AM

Now for a few humble thoughts about the Oscars.I did not see every second of it, but my wife did, and she joins me in noting that there was not one word of tribute, not one breath, to our fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan or to their families or their widows or orphans. There were pitifully dishonest calls for peace -- as if the people we are fighting were interested in any peace for us but the peace of the grave. But not one word for the hundreds of thousands who have served and are serving, not one prayer or moment of silence for the dead and maimed.

Basically, the sad truth is that Hollywood does not think of itself as part of America, and so, to Hollywood, the war to save freedom from Islamic terrorists is happening to someone else. It does not concern them except insofar as it offers occasion to mock or criticize George Bush. They live in dreamland and cannot be gracious enough to thank the men and women who pay with their lives for the stars' ability to live in dreamland. This is shameful.

The idea that it is brave to stand up for gays in Hollywood, to stand up against Joe McCarthy in Hollywood (fifty years after his death), to say that rich white people are bad, that oil companies are evil -- this is nonsense. All of these are mainstream ideas in Hollywood, always have been, always will be. For the people who made movies denouncing Big Oil, worshiping gays, mocking the rich to think of themselves as brave -- this is pathetic, childish narcissism.

The brave guy in Hollywood will be the one who says that this is a fabulously great country where we treat gays, blacks, and everyone else as equal. The courageous writer in Hollywood will be the one who says the oil companies do their best in a very hostile world to bring us energy cheaply and efficiently and with a minimum of corruption. The producer who really has guts will be the one who says that Wall Street, despite its flaws, has done the best job of democratizing wealth ever in the history of mankind.

No doubt the men and women who came to the Oscars in gowns that cost more than an Army Sergeant makes in a year, in limousines with champagne in the back seat, think they are working class heroes to attack America -- which has made it all possible for them. They are not. They would be heroes if they said that Moslem extremists are the worst threat to human decency since Hitler and Stalin. But someone might yell at them or even attack them with a knife if they said that, so they never will.

Hollywood is above all about self: self-congratulation, self-promotion, and above all, self-protection. This is human and basic, but let's not kid ourselves. There is no greatness there in the Kodak theater. The greatness is on patrol in Kirkuk. The greatness lies unable to sleep worrying about her man in Mosul. The greatness sleeps at Arlington National Cemetery and lies waiting for death in VA Hospitals. God help us that we have sunk so low as to confuse foolish and petty boasting with the real courage that keeps this nation and the many fools in it alive and flourishing on national TV.

Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer living in Beverly Hills and Malibu. He also writes "Ben Stein's Diary" in every issue of The American Spectator. Please click here to subscribe.

The Brady Bunch. Not That One, The One I Don't Like

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has come out with their annual state report card. 32 states received a grade of D or F. California, the state in which I live received an A-. My guess is when California bans all firearm sales and confiscates the firearms of all it's law abiding citizens it will get an A+ and be a crime free utopia. But now we will have to live just short of such a utopia. By then I hope I live in one of the 32 states that have a D or F. Preferably F-.

These grades need to be read differently than those you would normally read. The way I see it, the lower the grade the better. Getting an A means that those of us who are law abiding gun owners have a more difficult time purchasing firearms. The more restrictions on the freedom and right to own firearms the higher the grade. The Brady's believe that no one has the right to own firearms. The Brady's believe that no one has the right to self defense. The Brady's believe that all one needs to do when danger arises is run away.

The Brady's line of thought could not be more WRONG. No American should ever have cower from a criminal or any threat. No American should ever have to run from danger. The Brady's keep saying that The NRA is the criminals best friend. I think the Brady's are the criminals best friend. Their asinine beliefs in the restrictions they promote do NOTHING to disarm criminals. All the Brady's do is promote laws and restrictions that disarm the law abiding and leave them helpless and dependent on others to protect them and their family.

If you don't own a firearm, That is your choice. If you do, Join the NRA and help fight those that want to take away your right to own that firearm. An armed society is governed, an unarmed society is ruled.

Join the NRA here. www.nra.org