An error from yesterday concerning the shooting in Wichita: the video that I contended was of the shooter practicing with his trusty rusty AK, which appeared to be on automatic fire, was in fact a semiautomatic being bump fired.
Reading the news coverage from Friday, local Wichita news said he had an "extensive criminal background". But none of his crimes were violent, although they may have been felonies.
Later I read there was a protective order out on him, which would prevent him from obtaining a semiautomatic over the counter or through the FFL system.
So, that leaves a kit build or a private gun sale as a means of obtaining the AK. According to US statues, however, if he obtained a kit and induced someone to build the rifle, whoever built it for him would be involved in an illegal transfer. That person is criminally liable. Not the shooter.
As I have said before, the issue is not if he has the right to own a firearm. I contend but for the criminal justice system imposing restrictions on him carrying a firearm, he does have that right. The issue, legally speaking, is the transfer.
If it was a private gun sale, then the only legal problem would be whether the seller knew Ford was a "prohibited person", according to our own Orwellian firearms laws.
Separately, a video posted on Facebook a few days ago showed a fella (he didn't identify himself in the presentation) from YouTube's Military Arms Channel testing how a set of five rifles, four 5.56x45mm and one AK, performed when left out in 10F degree weather after being sprayed with a water mist. The fella doing the testing loaded them all before conducting his test.
If you guessed one of the ARs, then you were wrong. The AK had the first two rounds misfire. When the host attempted to clear the malfunction by slamming a Magpul M4 style butt stock into the ground, the butt stock broke. Eventually, he cleared the jam and the weapon did fire.
The whole time watching the video, all I could think was, "Why would someone install a plastic butt stock on a rifle when plenty of other, far more durable butt stocks are available?"
Two years ago during the Bundy Ranch standoff, one of the major problems was the issue of firearms handling in an environment where everyone was armed. Mike Vanderboegh remarked at the time, along with his Oathkeeper hosts at the ranch, about issues such as muzzle sweeping, and how widespread problems were with firearms handling.
Prices for pistol ammunition were mostly higher, while prices for rifle ammunition were mixed.
Prices for used pistols were mostly lower, while prices for used rifles were mixed.
New Lows:
None
Pistol Ammunition
.45 Caliber, 230 Grain, From Last Week: +.02 Each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel, .26 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: SG Ammo, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Cased, .25 per round (From Last week: Unchanged (3 Weeks))
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 Grain, From Last Week: +.02 Each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Freedom Munitions, Store brand, FNFP, Reloads, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Freedom Munitions, Store brand, FNFP, Reloads, .22 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (8 Weeks))
9mm Parabellum, 115 Grain, From Last Week: +.02 Each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Selway Armory, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Cased, .16 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Rush Creek Ammo, Store brand, FMJ, Reloads, .17 per round (From Last Week: +.01 Each After Unchanged (3 Weeks))
.357 Magnum, 158 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (4 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Freedom Ammunition, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel cased, .26 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 1,000 rounds: J&G Sales, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel cased, .25 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (4Q, 2015))
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 Grain, From Last Week: +.02 Each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Midsouth Shooters Supply, Tulammo, steel cased, FMJ, .23 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: J&G Sales, Tulammo, steel cased, FMJ,, .23 per round (From Last Week: +.02 Each
.308 NATO 150 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (4Q, 2015)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, steel cased, FMJ, .37 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, steel cased, FMJ, .37 per round (From Last Week: -.03 Each After Unchanged (5 Weeks))
7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (6 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Munire USA, Wolf WPA, steel case, FMJ, .25 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Ammo Fast, Wolf WPA, steel case, FMJ, .23 per round (From Last Week: +.01 Each)
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: -.01 Each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Ammoman, CCI, RNL .07 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 325 rounds: Cabelas, Federal, RNL, .07 per round (From Last Week: -.01 Each After Unchanged (4 Weeks))
Here's another way to think of it. Think of being utterly destitute. No money at all. Flat broke - penniless, with your pockets turned inside out. Most of us would feel pretty bad about being in that situation.
Now, think of a stack of crisp new US $100 bills. Create a stack that totals US $100,000. That stack is 4.3 inches tall.
Now, think of the total US national debt = 19 trillion dollars (and that is probably only 10% of the REAL amount, including unfunded FEDERAL liabilities). A stack of US $100 bills totaling US $19 trillion would be 12,894 MILES tall. That's over 1/20 of the distance to the moon.
That's the stack of US $100 bills that you would need to bring the Unite States UP to being totally, utterly broke, penniless, and starving - in any rational world.
#2
The only saving grace is that the rest of the world is even more screwed taking in account, no matter how much they spend, they can not buy the security of the old Pax Americana now gone. When their money becomes worthless as old Russian Czar bonds, even an inflated American dollar will have value. We're screwed, but so is the rest of the world. Remember, you don't have to be faster than the bear, just anyone else in the group.
[Rudaw] ERBIL, Kurdistan Region--A picture of a diminished Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) in Iraq is emerging from recent reports and statistics.
As Peshmerga and Iraqi troops prepare for a major offensive to retake djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and loosen ISIS’ grip in Iraq, indications are that the terrorist group have all but conceded defeat.
In the last week alone, ISIS has suffered mass desertion and executed dissenters while a captured bully boy described the group as "weakened." Experts believe that many of the leadership have relocated to Libya, leaving dwindling numbers in Iraq and Syria.
United States defense statistics released earlier this month indicate that the number of ISIS bully boyz in Iraq and Syria had fallen to between 19,000 and 25,000, down from earlier estimates of up to more than 30,000 fighters.
It is suspected that ISIS, commanders especially, are seeking safety in Libya.
"Some of their members, especially those with long-term importance to ISIS, are taking refuge here [in Libya]", intelligence chief of Misrata, Ismail Shukri, told the BBC. "They view Libya as a safe haven."
Those bully boyz left behind appear to be unskilled and afraid.
A volunteer bomb diffuser with the Peshmerga, Dr. Sulaiman Saeed, has observed a decrease in the quality of ISIS’ bombs. "A year ago, their bombs were being made by specialists," he said. "But those we saw in [the recent liberation campaign in] Shingal have not been made by specialists. I guess the professionals are dead in ISIS, and those who work for them now are their third generation."
An ISIS bully boy, Saad Sulaiman Ali, captured by Kirkuk security forces last week confirmed that the terrorist group is a shadow of what it was. "Everything is different from what it used to be," he stated. "They are weakened now." Ali also noted that ISIS is lacking in weapons, ammunition and explosives.
The remaining bully boyz may have seen the writing on the wall and are willing to risk the threat of execution by deserting their posts instead of facing near certain defeat.
At least 100 bully boyz fled Mosul on Sunday according to Saeed Mamuzini, who led the office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Mosul before the city was overrun by ISIS. "ISIS morale is at an all time low. People are scared," Mamuzini reported. "ISIS bully boyz too."
Mamuzini indicated that among those who abandoned their posts were seven commanders. The desertion of commanding officers brings a more serious problem for the ISIS leadership. A rudderless band of bully boyz will be unable to offer little resistance to the forthcoming liberation offensive that Peshmerga and Iraqi troops are gearing up for.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/27/2016 00:00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
#1
How many articles like this have we seen here in the last 10 - 12 years?
#2
Moreso in the past 5-6 years. But your point is noted.
As I said repeatedly, the IS eastern front is being run by ex-Saddam Baathists with troops of local Arabs and volunteers rejected by leadership on the IS western front.
The question is: where are the Chechens/Caucasians going?
#3
I think the Syrian thing has bled off a lot of ISIS assets and the Russian involvement has seriously damaged their logistics.
I think the movement into Libya is ISIS doing a reset on the Caliphate, trying to set one up in Libya. It appears Iraq, now that Maliki is gone, has grown to the situation and is no longer easy pickings. The Peshmerga, the tribal militias, and the NPS are all much better now.
Of course, our leadership will never admit to how much deep involvement our "special" people have had in this change of events. Nor that of the various shadow organizations of the British, the French and others in Iraq.
Hopefully, someone will find and pot Baghdadi and his deputies. But in the end, those who flock to ISIS will just move on to some other movement that espouses the same violence...Islam has a problem and Islam is the problem. Some how the Islamic leadership has to either put an end to this by declaring all of these groups Apostates or they have to quit kidding us and admit they actually support this madness...
Something tells me we are on the verge of a holy war between the forces of light and the forces of the darkness that is Islam.
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/27/2016 12:54 Comments ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Analysts cast doubt on the possibility of a war between Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Israel this year, citing political changes since their last war in 2014. However, you can observe a lot just by watching... the reasons cited are the same ones that make another conflict highly likely. It was said in 2014 that neither side wanted a war due to certain political hindrances, but Israel launched Operation Protective Edge anyway.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened a harsher response than in 2014 days after Hamas admitted rebuilding tunnels in preparation for a future conflict. Each side is waiting for the other to begin military action.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2016 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
I predict if no rockets or bullets or knives exit Gaza to damage Israel then Israel will not attack.
#5
At some point, Israel is going to have to acknowledge that the problem with Gaza is Gaza, and eliminate it. The same goes with the "west bank". The world will scream, but Israel has no choice if it wants to survive.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/27/2016 18:28 Comments ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] In their brotherly relations, Gulf countries have asked nothing from Leb but unity of Arab opinion and positions while confronting the many challenges facing the Arab world. The biggest challenge is Israel. During all the times it attacked Leb, only Arab countries - such as Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... , Kuwait, Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - stood by us to rebuild what was destroyed.
Iran also helped with reconstruction, but its efforts came late and were limited to areas that benefit its allies, connecting Shiite towns to one another to allow Hezbollah more freedom of movement and to transfer weapons.
Economic interests link Leb to Gulf countries, not to Iran. Thousands of Lebanese have been working in the Gulf since the 1960s, transferring billions of dollars that contribute to developing Leb’s economy. Leb has no interest in being hostile to Arab countries, as this would weaken and harm it.
Accountability
We cannot hold accountable any country that has decided to review its relations with Leb, but we can hold ourselves accountable, correct our mistakes and make up for our dereliction. We must not do so according to the logic of humiliation and submission, as some think, but according to the national spirit that maintains Lebanese interests.
Doing otherwise would be to submit to schemes that serve the interests of the Iranian and Syrian regimes, not those of Leb. Such plans are obstructing presidential elections, ruining relations with brotherly countries, and pushing Leb to collapse.
Correcting an error is a virtue. If Hezbollah abides by the orders of Iran, which has pushed it into the Syrian swamp and prevented it from facilitating the process of electing a president in Leb, does Christian leader Michel Aoun ...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah... accept to share responsibility with Hezbollah for harming Lebanese interests and livelihoods? Does he bear responsibility for Christians’ decision not to return to Leb if they are expelled from the Gulf?
The solution lies in Hezbollah returning to its senses and proving it is Lebanese, as it claims, in Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil’s resignation, and in decisive action by the prime minister, even if it leads to the cabinet’s resignation.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/27/2016 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
Original by Andrey Rezchikov published by Vzglyad; translation by J.Hawk
A video surfaced in the internet of a missile attack on a T-90 tank on Syria's territory. The tank survived a hit by a US-made anti-tank missile. According to the specialists, the incident suggests the T-90s advantages over Western tanks.
The video shows the moment in which a US-made TOW ATGM strikes the T-90. The incident took place west of Aleppo, in rural areas where the SAA has been actively fighting against the Islamic State. The missile was fired by some "Desert Hawk brigade which apparently is part of the "moderate opposition" or, more specifically, to the Free Syrian Army.
"If that missile penetrated the armor, nobody inside the tank would have survived."
Experts agree that the incident showcases the T-90's advantages over Western tanks.
"The missile simply went off to the side"
The deputy director of Uralvagonzavod which manufactures the T-90, Vyacheslav Khalitov, notes that the video is too blurry so that it's difficult to determine what vehicle it is, but it "closely resembles the T-90." According to Khalitov, the video must have been composed of two parts. The first suggests that the Shtora optronic suppression system was effective because the missile "simply went off to the side."
"Shtora is part of T-90s multi-layer protection. It is a subsystem designed to protect the vehicle against flare-tracked ATGMs," Khalitov told Vzglyad.
According to Khalitov, the T-90 also has another protective system which detects an approaching missile by detecting the illuminating laser beam, and then launches a metallic aerosol grenade which disperses the laser beam thus depriving the enemy of the ability to guide the missile or estimate range using a laser rangefinder.
Khalitov also said that the second part of the video differs from the first oneâthe tank's Shtora was not switched on which allowed the missile to strike its target but "then the reactive armor suite was activated which prevented the tank from suffering serious damage and the crew was able to leave it."
"The tank remained operational after the missile hit. Reactive armor tiles destroy munitions striking the tank before they are able to penetrate the basic armor," Khalitov noted.
He emphasized that the T-90 is a survivable machine, which is confirmed both by testing and actual combat operations. "As long as the tank is provided with reactive armor tiles and not empty boxes, as has been known to happen, if all the defensive systems are functional and switched on, the vehicle is very survivable. Statistics of their use in combat has shown they are highly reliable and survivable, more so than their Western counterparts," Khalitov claims.
Of course, one does have to qualify his statement by adding that a representative of the tank's manufacturer could have hardly said anything else.
Strong armor
Colonel General Anatoliy Sitnov, Deputy Minister of Defense for Armaments, also says that the T-90s reactive armor allowed the crew to survive. "The crew survived. It means that the reactive armor worked. Had the armor been penetrated, nobody would have survived inside," Sitnov told Vzglyad.
The modernized T-90MS tank was demonstrated three years ago. It contains a number of improvements "to satisfy potential customers." It has a more powerful engine, a new air conditioner, thicker engine compartment armor, and a 12.7mm machine-gun in a remote-control turret mount.
Russia has been promoting that vehicle throughout the Middle East. Iran expressed interest in the T-90.
The T-90 was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It entered service in 1992. It was one of the best-selling tanks between 2001 and 2010, mainly thanks to the contract with India.
After the Russian campaign in Syria began, Syrian militants obtained over a hundred ATGMs, which caused the attacking Syrian forces lose up to 10 armored vehicles a day. Videos published in October 2015 showed the rebels use US-made TOW ATGMs.
In early February, photographs appeared on the internet showing Syrian vehicles equipped with new, possibly developed with Russian assistance, defensive systems intended to protect against TOW missiles.
J.Hawk's Comment: The T-90 in question most likely survived the attack, though one of its crewmembers, likely a Syrian army tanker who still has memories of operating early-model T-72s with thinner armor protection and often no reactive armor, likely instinctively jumped out of the tank fearing that the missile hit had scored a lethal hit which would soon result in a fire. The video also shows the Syrian tank crew in question is lacking in trainingâno matter how survivable the tank is, it is generally a bad idea to sit still in an exposed firing location for such a long period of time, because no tank completely invulnerable.
Posted by: Fester Thrimble9033 ||
02/27/2016 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
As long as the tank is provided with reactive armor tiles and not empty boxes, as has been known to happen. If all the defensive systems are functional and switched on, the vehicle is very survivable.
That's a lot of "ifs."
Also, this TOW did not have a tandem warhead nor does this show how it would have done vs. a depleted uranium round.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/27/2016 11:57 Comments ||
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h/t Instapundit
Night after night I watch my World War One and World War Two documentaries. I just finished the BBC’s The World at War, 30 hours or so on WWII, surely as fine a piece of work on film as there has ever been. The writers got the Battle of Midway totally confused with the Marianas Turkey Shoot and got quite a bit wrong about Leningrad. But the series in general is magnificent. Laurence Olivier’s narration is subtle beyond belief. His command of the material is stupefyingly potent.
...As my pal Phil says, if you told Europeans in 1910 what the next 35 years held for them they would have thought you insane. Serene France and Belgium turned into slaughterhouses. The Tsar and his family shot down and their bodies so battered as to be unrecognizable. Forty thousand British men murdered by machine gun fire at the Somme in little more than 24 hours.
Horror upon horror and then the second act, in which industrial methods were used to kill civilians deemed by a sick "science" to be unworthy of life, in which 80,000 Germans were incinerated in hours in what was, undoubtedly, a good cause.
...As I watched, I used my trusty Google to endlessly study one of my obsessions: why our nonwhite young men relatively are so violent and undisciplined and commit so many crimes and do so badly in school when the ones I meet and work with are smart and pleasant and hard working.
The answer I came up with was this:
Our country needs a great many things. More stealth bombers. More Marines. More medical care for Veterans and their families. More good teachers. But our most urgent need is for more fathers.
#1
For the Left the route to power was included the 'Women's Movement' which declared a women needed a man like a fish needed a bicycle. They substituted Big Brother for a father. How did that all work out for you? Who needs real history when the Marxist fantasy is the goal even if it means destroying the civilization and institutions around you as artificial constructs rather than the successful adaptations of groups of humans to not only survive but to flourish.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Michel Aoun
