International Museums: The Tower of London

The Tower of London is more than just a tower, it is a full complex – once it served as a royal palace and center of government. Officially Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress, the Tower of London is one of the city’s most popular tourist attraction and contains the old royal arsenal. It is also a museum that is home to a museum within for the Royal Fusiliers! The Tower of London is a site of mystery and history, and one worth visiting. (Click images for a closer view) Read more

NRA News: Issa says Holder should apologize to Mexico: ‘Justice has blood on their hands’

Cam Edwards talks to Matthew Boyle from The Daily Caller

Gun Rights Policies with John Snyder: Religious, Gun Rights Advocates Must Unite Against Obama on Civil Rights

Gun Rights Policies with John Snyder:

Gun rights advicates have been wise to Obama from the start, and religious leaders are now beging to wake up to the threat of this president.

Civil rights advocates of various interests must unite against Obama because he cannot be trusted to uphold civil rights.

GunRightsPolicies.org
John M. Snyder
Manager
Telum Associates, LLC
Arlington, VA
202-239-8005

About John Snyder:
Named the Gun Dean by Human Events, “the senior rights activist in Washington” by Shotgun News, a “champion of the right to self-defense” by The Washington Times, and “dean of gun lobbyists” by The Washington Post and The New York Times, John M. Snyder has spent 45 years as a proponent of the individual Second Amendment civil right to keep and bear arms as a National Rifle Association editor, public affairs director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, treasurer of the Second Amendment Foundation, and founder of www.GunRightsPolicies.org.

A former Jesuit seminarian, Snyder is founder/manager of Telum Associates, LL.C., founder/chairman of the St. Gabriel Possenti Society, Inc., a director of Council for America, and serves on the boards of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and the American Federation of Police & Concerned Citizens. He is also the author of the book Gun Saint. Visit: www.GunRightsPolicies.org

Who Guards the Guards: “Guns missing from Pine County Sheriff’s Office”

So far the year started off without stories like this one, but this week The Duluth News Tribune and other local outlets offered another story we hate to hear about – “Guns missing from the Pine County Sheriff’s Office.” The paper paints an even worse picture:

The ongoing firearms investigation is one of 11 internal investigations involving 15 sheriff’s office employees conducted over the past year. The investigations included complaints of domestic violence, sexual harassment, excessive force, abuse of authority, failure to follow policies and order, and failure to perform assigned duties. The investigations produced disciplinary actions ranging from oral reprimands to termination.

All of this is very upsetting, but the issue of the guns is the one we find very disturbing as it sort of takes aim at the argument that only police should have guns. In this case at least a dozen or so guns would now be in the hands of the bad guys near Duluth if “only the police” had guns.

NRA News: Arizona Lawmakers Announce Plans for Fast and Furious Committee

Cam Edwards talks to State Rep. David Burnell Smith (R-AZ)

NRA News: Support Grows for Marine Who Brought Gun to Empire State Building

Cam Edwards talks to Dave Bruce, a Boston lawyer and Former Marine who is trying to help Ryan Jerome, a fellow Former Marine who was arrested in New York City for his concealed handgun

NRA News at SHOT Show With Ted Nugent

From last week’s SHOT Show 2012 in Las Vegas, Cam Edwards talks to Ted Nugent

Gun Business: U.S. Army Orders Gatling Guns and M2 Gets Makeover

Two interesting stories caught our eye this week. First up, the “Gatling Gun” might have been 19th century technology but General Dynamics is keeping it alive and well in the 21st century. From a company press release:

General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, a business unit of General Dynamics, was awarded a $7.3 million contract to produce and deliver more than two dozen GAU-19/B Gatling gun systems for use on U.S. Army helicopters. General Dynamics also will provide field support, spare parts and logistics support under the contract.

The GAU-19/B is a lighter version of General Dynamics’ GAU-19/A, a .50 caliber, three-barrel gun which is currently fielded on aircraft, ground vehicles and ships. All of the GAU-19/B gun systems will be delivered in February.

And it seems the nearly century old .50 caliber is getting a makeover as well! Bloomberg reports:

The U.S. Army’s “Ma Deuce,” the .50-caliber M2 machine gun wielded by World War II hero Audie Murphy, is being revamped to prevent malfunctions that have injured dozens of soldiers.

Congress shifted $34 million at the Army’s request to supplement $15 million originally sought in this year’s defense budget for modifications to correct a “safety issue” with the M2, according to the conference report accompanying legislation. The funds may benefit gunmakers General Dynamics Corp. (GD) and U.S. Ordnance Inc.

This just proves that the old technology from Gatling and Browning is still viable today with a few improvements.

Illinois Gun Licenses Rose Six Percent in 2011

The media is reporting an interesting story this week. Illinois residents are buying guns, as licenses rose by six percent. Even those from the Illinois Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence noted to local Chicago media, “that is a pretty big increase.”

So is there more to the story? What the media is only touching upon is that Chicago ended – by way of the Supreme Court – a ban on handgun ownership. And in the Windy City gun ownership, or at least the number of people with firearms cards, increased by 16 percent in 2011.

This is a story, a big story. Now some anti-gun types are no doubt going to say, “This is bad” and cite possible increase in violence. But the truth is that Chicago has had gun violence because the criminal element ignored the gun ban. So maybe we could actually see some decrease in crime as the innocent law-abiding citizens won’t have to automatically be victims.

Virginia Citizens Defense League Legislative Update & Action Items 1-26-12

Virginia Citizens Defense League:

Yesterday the Senate Courts of Justice Committee heard a bunch of gun bills and some important ones, like the repeal of One Handgun a Month and repeal of Fingerprinting for CHP applicants, passed out of committee. Read more