Smith & Wesson Expands its Classic Line of Revolvers with the Model 586 Revolver
The recent Super Bowl XLVI might have been an instant classic but some classics are worth the wait. Smith & Wesson recently announced the expansion of their legendary Classic line with the introduction of the Model 586 revolver. Also known as the Distinguished Combat Magnum when first introduced by Smith & Wesson in 1980, the new classic offers collectors and .357 Magnum aficionados with one of the most sought after law enforcement firearms of its time. Designed with a carbon steel frame and cylinder along with a blue finish, the Classic Model 586 brings back flashes of an era when revolvers were worn mostly on the hips of law enforcement officers. Like the original, the classic Model 586 holds six rounds of .357/.38 S&W Special. It is offered in either a 4-inch or 6-inch barrel version with a single-action and a double-action trigger pull that is the hallmark of every Smith & Wesson revolver. The Classic Model 586 is standard with an authentic square-butt design and is packaged with checkered wood grips containing the Smith & Wesson medallion. A serrated back strap comes standard for improved firearm control when shooting heavy magnum loads. The Model 586 revolver is ideal for collectors, retired officers and recreational shooters who can relive history through this new classic addition. Both the 4-inch and 6-inch versions retail for $809.00.
It’s a Carnival for Florida’s Gun Owners
In an effort to streamline gun regulations across the state of Florida new legislation prevents local governments from enforcing stricter, local gun-control regulations. Barney Fife might want to think twice now about telling you where to carry that gun. A violation of this new law carries some consequences. If a local governmental official tries to enact or enforce a local gun control regulation they face a civil penalty of $5,000 and a knowing and willful violation can also result in removal from office. A guy like Barney Fife might want to listen up because something tells me he will have trouble finding another job in a place like Mayberry. In addition, public officials are not allowed to use public funds to hire counsel in their defense. Additionally, private parties whom might be negatively impacted by a local regulation such as a gun dealer can also sue the governmental entity for damages up to $100,000. Did they really pay Barney Fife to do his job or was he paid in Aunt Bee’s pies?
As a citizen of Florida I can tell you that inconsistent local ordinances are not only confusing but frustrating. Finally a common sense gun law has created a single set of gun laws that make it easier for gun owners to adhere to the law. Of course local government officials are up in arms because they are being stripped of their ability to shape gun laws at the local level. Broward county mayor Sue Gunzburger responded to the new law by stating, “I really think it endangers public safety. I don’t think there’s any good reason for a person to be in a park or a playground with a gun.” Someone might want to show the mayor a copy of the Constitution which protects a person’s right to bear arms. Marion Hammer, lobbyist for the NRA, summed up the new law by saying, “Local governments are not allowed to regulate the Bill of Rights.” Gun owners bear the right to carry a gun and also bear the responsibility of their actions. With due respect to the Mayor I’ve been to some of the Broward County parks she describes and I’ve felt a need to protect myself on several occasions. Fortunately I’ve never had to act to protect myself but I should have the right to carry a weapon to protect my family and friends.
The new gun law passed in 2011 is being upheld in 2012. Most recently, two gun rights groups (Florida Carry Inc. and Florida NRA) issued complaints to the Florida State Agriculture Commission because one of their members with a firearm was not admitted into the State Fair. The executive director of the State Fair, Charles Pesano, commented on the issue, “Since I’ve been here, the policy has been not to allow weapons on the fairgrounds just through good common sense.” However, with the new penalties in place the State Fair authority immediately changed the policy to comply with Florida law. Now the signs at the fair read “No Unlawful Weapons” instead of “No Weapons”. The director mentioned common sense. Wouldn’t common sense be that citizens have the right to bear arms under the Constitution? I haven’t been to the Florida State Fair but I’ve been to plenty of Fair Grounds and local carnivals. The level of security and safety at these events is usually lacking and citizens should have the right to bear lawful weapons to protect themselves while eating cotton candy and trying to forget the awful corn dog they just ate. Common Sense would be adding more security at these events to prevent any unlawful behavior that could lead to firearm use. Common Sense would be restricting the consumption and use of alcohol or drugs at these events. Common Sense would be watching for gang related activities at these events. Common Sense would be requiring more parental supervision at these events. Common Sense is this new Florida law which aims to streamline gun laws across the state.
Firing Back: Historically Minorities Denied 2nd Amendment Rights
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the first gun control laws were targeted against minorities. The white power structure, especially in the south, wanted to maintain control even if it meant embracing such groups as the KKK. Today, people of color are being denied their 2ndAmendment Rights by the power structure of large cities, like New York and Chicago. In some neighborhoods of America’s largest cities, law-abiding citizens must fear armed criminals while being unable to legally arm themselves.
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) has produced a 20 minute documentary, “No Guns for Negros,” that exposes the racist history of gun control and its impact on minority communities today. The movie can be downloaded free at http://jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/movieplay-ngn-swf.htm and the organization wants as many people as possible to distribute their production as long as it isn’t done for profit.
So spread the word. Distribute copies to your friends and community organizations. Let’s make all of America safe by returning 2nd Amendment Rights to all neighborhoods.
Video after the jump
Man Charged for Shooting Grizzly Bear
On Mother’s Day of this year, Jeremy Hill of Porthill Idaho shot and killed an endangered grizzly bear. He was charged with a federal misdemeanor for killing a species protected by the Endangered Species Act. His trial is set for October 4.
Mr. Hill’s children were playing outside when he saw three bears that appeared to be going after his pigs. The pigpen is only 150 feet from the Hill residence. Not knowing where his children were, Hill attempted to scare the bears off by yelling as he called for his children. When the children didn’t respond, Mr. Hill ran into his house and grabbed his daughter Jasmine’s .270 rifle.
Shouting again after his children, there was no response. Mr. Hill then took aim and shot the closest grizzly that was about 40 yards away. The other two bears ran off and Hill shot two more times to finish off the wounded grizzly. Hearing the shots, his children ran inside to safety. Mr. Hill has pleaded not guilty by reason of self-defense and/or the defense of another.
Idaho’s two federal senators and a representative have given their support to Mr. Hill. Residents of Boundary County have raised over $19,000 for his defense fund.
This prosecution exemplifies the times we are living in. Taken to the extreme, an endangered species has more rights than we do. Hopefully a jury of Mr. Hills peers will use their common sense and conclude that the shooting was justified.
D.C. v Heller and McDonald v Chicago need Supreme Court Clarification
D.C. v Heller and McDonald v Chicago were decided in favor of gun rights three and two years ago respectively. Those of us who cherish our 2nd Amendment Rights were jubilant that finally the Supreme Court cleared up the issue in our favor. But as FirearmsTruth reported back then, not all issues were clearly defined by The Court.
Can Holder’s Own Inspector General Objectively Investigate Him?
Operation Fast and Furious (also known as Gunwalker) is slowly being investigated by the Executive and Legislative branches of the government. Both President Obama and Attorney General Holder deny any knowledge of the operation before the story broke in the news. The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General is conducting an investigation but can it objectively investigate its own boss, Eric Holder?
Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa are investigating Fast and Furious for the Legislative branch. On July 4th they held a secret meeting with Ken Melson, acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the entity most involved with implementing Fast and Furious.
Oddly, Eric Holder requested a copy of the transcript of the secret July 4 meeting on behalf of his Office of Inspector General (OIG). This personal request came before any OIG request was made of the July 4 meeting. Does Mr. Holder want to read the secret transcript himself?
“Since the OIG is supposed to be conducting an independent inquiry, it seems odd that the Department would make a document request on behalf of that office,” Grassley and Issa wrote to Holder on Tuesday. “We presume that if the OIG would like to make such a request, it is capable of doing so on its own initiative. However, we have not received any such request from the OIG.”
Rep. Darrell Issa may be leery about releasing any secret meetings because of some half-truths used against him politically by likes of the Washington Post and other pro-administration outlets. In a Washington Post story it was claimed that Issa and others were briefed on the ATFs’ Operation Fast and Furious in 2010 and that at the time he didn’t raise any objections. He was made to look like a hypocritical political hit man when he later attacked Fast and Furious.
What the story didn’t include was that Issa and the others were lied to. They were told that Fast and Furious was instigated by rogue low level agents. Conclusive evidence proves that Fast and Furious went at least as high as acting director Melson, who watched illegal straw purchases in his office live via the Internet.
Being lied to and then having that lie used against Rep. Issa politically probably makes him much more skeptical when it comes to investigating the Executive Branch. In Tuesday’s letter, Grassley and Issa also asked Holder to provide complete answers to the questions they sent him on July 22. The Attorney General, our highest federal law enforcement officer, appears to be stonewalling an investigation with international consequences.
The lies, half-truths, red-tape and political thug tactics that the Executive has used to stop or slow an investigation into Fast and Furious is enough to warrant a special investigator who reigns outside the reach of Holder or President Obama. This rocket may take the administration all the way to Mars but not back.
Double-Shot Shocker from Taser Now Available
Can’t stop a charging rino or an angry Rodney King with one shot? Now you have a second chance with Taser’s new X2 model. Similar in size to the X26, the X2 allows for a one-two punch. New technology, called Cross-Connect, allows for six probe combinations in case a single probe misses on the first shot. This will really cause your hair to stand on end.
This new model has dual laser sights just like the latest Terminator. The X2 can be fired more than 500 times before having to be replaced and sports a warning arc of electricity that can intimidate a target into submission without actually being zapped. Remember, “Don’t tase me bro!”
Thousands of law-enforcement personnel helped design the X2 through surveys, interviews and focus groups. 31% smaller than the X3, the new taser costs under $1,000 to help make it affordable for cash strapped police departments.
“The X2 is the culmination of more than six years of intense research and development and offers exponentially increased capabilities, including vastly enhanced data, as well as enhanced safety features with its second-shot capability and dual lasers,” Rick Smith, Taser CEO and founder, said in a statement.
Taser will start shipping this new wonder in the second quarter of this year.
90% Number Disappears from News Stories
Just a few months ago a quick review of news stories about the Mexican drug cartels would quote the false statistic that 90% of the firearms used by these gangs come from the United States. State Department documents cracked by WikiLeaks show that the government has long known that the 90% number is a lie. And yet Secretary of State Clinton has quoted this misinformation in speeches. Even the President has propagated this mistruth.
Not only has the false statistic disappeared, the entire Mexican drug war has gone the way of the dinosaur. Could it be that the scandalous AFT Project Gunwalker, an operation that allowed illegal sales north of the boarder, is keeping the story from the public conscience?
The leaked State Department documents, along with Project Gunwalker paint a picture of an administration that is either exceptionally devious or totally clueless. The devious model shows an executive branch that is manipulating and hiding information to make the United States an equal partner in evil when it comes to Mexican drug smuggling. The mainstream media, which has gone from a covert to an overt supporter of President Obama, would naturally want to kill this view.
The alternative view is almost as damning: the administration, from the very top positions, doesn’t have control over the bureaucracy. If the President is to be believed, middle management created and implemented Project Gunwalker without the knowledge of the Attorney General or the Secretary of State. And yet the blowback from Gunwalker has international implications that have strained U.S./Mexican relations. This alternative doesn’t fit the view that President Obama is a hands-on, hard working genius who carefully mulls over all contingencies with the precision of a logic professor.
There isn’t any middle ground so to protect their candidate; the news media is saying nothing. The President’s default position appears to be blame America first. Thousands of Mexican citizens have been killed during that government’s war on the drug gangs and by repeating the 90% number we lose good-will with the Mexican people. It’s no wonder that some hate the gringos. Allowing a few thousand weapons to be smuggled into Mexico through Project Gunwalker is scandalous enough.
The founders believed that a free press was necessary so that the citizen can be well informed about what the government is doing. By joining a conspiracy of silence, our media is hiding some of the President’s warts. But these are warts that need to be revealed. Why would President Obama change the way he conducts himself if his mistakes remain hidden in open site? In all likeliness he will run in 2012 and right now he is the frontrunner. It is better for everyone if his mistakes become part of public discourse so he can make positive changes.
WikiLeaks Reveals Source of Military Weapons for Mexican Cartels: 90% Come from Outside the United States
The U.S. public has been told again and again that 90% of the weapons the Mexican drug cartels buy come from legal sales in the United States. But according to U.S. diplomatic cables disseminated by Wikileaks, military weapons are being smuggled along the Mexican/Guatemala border. Besides assault rifles, smuggled weapons include hand grenades, grenade launchers, armor-piercing munitions and antitank rockets.
Secretary of State Clinton, along with the President himself, are among government officials who have deceived the American public. Obama, who claimed he was going to have the most open administration in modern times, has been keeping this secret. What’s worse is that the same administration has propagated the 90% lie.
The lie starts in 2008 when the Mexican government confiscated 30,000 firearms from drug cartels. Out of this, they selected 7,200 (or 24%) to send to the U.S. for tracing. Of the 7,200, the ATF was able to trace 4,000. Out of the 4,000, 3,480 (87%) were traced to the United States. If either government was honest, the origin of all 30,000 firearms would be reported in the news. 90% of Cartel weapons come from outside the United States.
President Obama promised that he didn’t want to take away our firearms so why the deception? In Mexico whenever there is a government problem, the United States is the default scapegoat. Tens of thousands of Mexican civilians have been killed in the war against the drug cartels. Instead of admitting that there is a smuggling problem on Mexico’s southern border, the American’s to the north are to blame.
But the United States isn’t to blame. Corrupt Mexican officials aren’t stopping the flow of weapons along the country’s southern border. The media and leaders from both countries are trying to make Americans feel guilty for the murders that are going on in Mexico. But 90% of the guilt lies elsewhere.
Why is the Fourth Estate mostly silent on this topic? Where are the investigative reporters from news outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post and 60 Minutes? If a small (but growing) blog like FirearmsTruth can reveal this government sanctioned scandal, why can’t the major players? Perhaps the mainstream news media has an anti-gun agenda and this story doesn’t fit their template.
Never Waste a Good Crisis
The title of this article was spoken by the Obama administration’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Is this the philosophy the President is using to keep the scandalous operations Project Gunrunner and Fast and Furious out of the mainstream media headlines?
The ATF’s sting operation has come back to plant apitoxin in the long arm of the law. As regular readers of FirearmsTruth know, Project Gunrunner allowed straw buyers to illegally buy and export guns to Mexican drug cartels. Over 1,700 firearms were involved and some have been used to murder U.S. agents and Mexican citizens.
A few major news outlets, including CBS and FOX News, have run stories on the scandal over the last few weeks. But the coverage has been back-page news compared to the war in Libya, the nuclear disaster in Japan and the latest antics of Charlie Sheen. There has been little editorial discussion about the subject on talk shows like Meet The Press and the late night comedians haven’t satirized the ATF.
If the public is to be informed, the press has to report on stories, even if they don’t fit their political view. Before Project Gunrunner and Fast and Furious broke, most of the media repeated the falsity that 90% of the guns seized from the Mexican drug gangs came from the United States. Stories attacking guns shows and gun stores near the U.S. Mexican border peppered the reading and viewing public. Now that we know our own government perpetrated these sales, news stories citing the 90% fallacy have disappeared. The question arises: If we are engaged in a war on drugs, why is the government selling weapons to the enemy?
President Obama has called the ATF’s actions “a serious mistake” but isn’t willing to take responsibility for the apitoxic sting. “I did not authorize it; Eric Holder, the attorney general, did not authorize it. He’s been very clear that our policy is to catch gunrunners and put them into jail.”
So who is in charge? The ATF operates under the Justice Department, which is headed by Eric Holder. Two of Holder’s assistant U.S. attorneys administered Operation Fast and Furious. It seems unlikely that such an operation could be undertaken without Holder’s knowledge. This isn’t a simple law enforcement matter. There are international implications attached to Fast and Furious and U.S./Mexican relations have been strained because of the ATF’s actions.
It doesn’t seem likely that a domestic law enforcement agency could be co-opted by mid-level officials to interfere with international relationships. At the very least, the State Department should have been consulted. But if the President is to be believed, no higher-ups knew anything. That means we have an administration that isn’t in control of its own levers of power.
Yesterday FirearmsTruth asked the question “Is the U.S. Bombing Libya to Deflect Attention From Fast and Furious?” We put our foot in the conspiratorial pool to test the temperature of the water. The problem with most conspiracy theories is that they rely on half-truths, circumstantial evidence and made-up facts. The simplest explanation is usually correct. As the 2012 election starts to heat up, it is clear the administration doesn’t need a well-known scandal to pierce the public’s conscience. The crisis in Libya and other parts of the world weren’t perpetrated by President Obama, but they have been exploited by those in the press who subvert news coverage so as to lend support to the President’s reelection.
