NRA News: Customs Told Trucker to Drive into Mexico with Ammunition, Lawyer Says

Ginny Simone talks to Carlos Spector, Attorney for Jabin Bogan

NRA News: EPA Denies Anti-Hunting Group’s Latest Petition to Ban Traditional Ammunition

Cam Edwards talks to Larry Keane, General Counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation

Lead Ammo Debate Renewed

This week the Huffington Post offered a news peice from California Watch titled, “Lead Ammo Should Be Regulated, Group Argues.” It noted:

A group of 100 environmental organizations has petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate lead in ammunition as a toxic substance.

The groups argue that more than 75 species, including the California condor and bald eagle, are harmed when they feed on the carcasses of animals killed by lead bullets and shot. Hunters who eat meat from animals killed with lead ammunition also face a risk of lead poisoning, they say, because tiny fragments of ammunition migrate from the original wound site into more distant tissue. Research has found that lead poisoning can cripple motor coordination and cause digestive problems, blindness and death.

Fortunately this piece didn’t limit the comments to one side. The story offered this commentary:

Pro-gun groups that scientific evidence linking lead ammunition to wildlife effects is shaky. For instance, raptor populations have been increasing steadily, despite the continued use of lead ammunition, Ted Novin, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association for the firearms and ammunitions industry, said in an e-mail.

“This is about choice,” Novin said. “Absent sound science demonstrating a wildlife population impact, sportsmen and women should be free to choose for themselves the type of ammunition they shoot.”

However after letting the NSSF have their moment, the story continued with mostly anti-lead ammo “facts.” This immediate counter point essentially dismisses what the NSSF said:

Several studies have implicated lead poisoning in deaths of the endangered California condor. A study published this year found lead poisoning was the primary cause of death in juvenile and adult condors from 1992 to 2009. A 2010 study analyzed three to four months of lead levels using condor feathers and found much higher and more frequent exposures than blood draws suggested, said Myra Finkelstein, an environmental toxicologist at UC Santa Cruz, who conducted the study. Still other work tied the chemical composition of lead found in poisoned birds with that of ammunition.

Research on other animals also links ammunition and lead poisoning. Turkey vultures and ravens show higher blood lead levels during the hunting season. One case report has documented lead poisoning from ammunition in a mountain lion, Finkelstein said. “By no means is this isolated to condors.”

This is a classic example of allowing the pro-gun voice to speak only to completely debunk every point they make!

LA Times Photo Brings Up More Questions in Fast and Furious

This week The Los Angeles Times is reporting that “Mexican officials have arrested a reputed enforcer for the country’s most powerful drug cartel – a man also alleged to have amassed weapons from the U.S. government’s failed Fast and Furious gun-smuggling operation.”

But let’s take a look at that photo that accompanied the story. While those could be semi-automatic AK-47s, as in the commercially available model, it is fascinating that there appears to be a grenade launcher on the far right and a .30 caliber machine gun in the center. These aren’t the usual items you find at any gun shop!

AK-74 Sales Up in 2011 – U.S. Media Ignores the Story

Russian media outlet RIA Novosti offered a story that has barely had any pickup in the United States, noting “Kalashnikov Rifle Maker Sales up 57.4% in 2011.” The article noted:

Izhmash, the manufacturer of Kalashnikov AK assault rifles, said its sales were up 57.4 percent last year at 5.73 billion rubles (about $190 million).

Civilian weapon sales rose 25 percent and a similar increase is expected this year, Izhmash press secretary Yelena Filatova said.

Production is to increase 30 percent this year, to 5.1 billion rubles, she added.

In September 2011, Chief of the Russian General Staff Nikolai Makarov said the Defense Ministry had stopped procuring AK-74 rifles because of oversupply, indicating that new models of small arms and light weapons would replace it.

The AK-74 is the most widely used and well-known assault rifle in the world. It is used by some 50 armies around the world, as well as countless guerrilla movements.

Now this is worth noting because it does mean that not only is this the most commonly used firearm in the world at present, but is probably the most widely illegally trafficked firearm as well. While fingers continue to point at American firearms, where is the mainstream media reporting on the AK-74 sales? And notice that the Russian military has an oversupply but the sales are increasing, so where are those guns going?

A related story also noted, “Venezuela plant to make 50 million Kalashnikov rounds annually,” which is a huge number. Could those bullets be fueling the cartel wars in Mexico? Just asking…

Gun Ad Compares Obama to Hitler – We Have to Agree

This week USA Ammo offered an ad that has gotten some mainstream attention. We have to hope it increases their sales too!

Who Guards the Guards: 200,000 Rounds of Ammunition Missing From Memphis PD

Either someone did a lot of shooting, or else someone has made off with a lot of ammo. We’re not talking about a few boxes either. According to The Memphis Commercial Appeal, “up to 200,000 rounds of ammunition are missing from the Memphis Police Department Training Academy’s Firearms Training Unit, and officials want to know what happened to the ammo.”

We would like an answer too, and would once again like to remind anyone who only thinks the police should have guns of what this could mean. Bad cops could be arms – and ammo – suppliers to the bad guys.

More Misuse of “High-Powered”

We continue to note that the media likes to label practically all firearms as “high-powered,” and the term has become a generic adjective to the point that it is almost meaningless.

This weekend The Monitor ran a story titled, “Mexican national jailed for allegedly smuggling ammunition,” and it included this passage:

“Authorities report that Martinez-Bernache was arrested Wednesday at the Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville after he attempted to smuggle 4,000 cartridges of .223 caliber ammunition and 1,000 cartridges of 7.62 caliber ammunition without a license.

“This type of ammunition is commonly used in high-powered assault rifles, authorities said.”

If authorities said that this was “used in high-powered assault rifles,” than those authorities prove they aren’t much of a gun authority.

Here is the problem. The .223 caliber ammunition is for the AR-15 or M-16, and it was actually designed to be a lower-powered bullet than the .30 caliber that was used in the M1 or M14. Those could be considered “high-powered,” but the .223 is generally considered an intermediate cartridge and thus not technically “high-powered.”

The other problem is that the 7.62 caliber ammunition comes in 7.62x54mmR, which is the old Russian standard for the WWI era bolt action rifles, as well as World War II Soviet era semi-automatic rifles. But the Soviets were among the first to see that this high-powered round was over-powered for combat needs, and created the 7.62x39mm round for the SKS. This was later used in the AK-47, which is considered an assault weapon, while the semi-automatic versions could be deemed assault weapon styled.

The point is that the 7.62x39mm is also an intermediate round, so this story is just another example of media misinformation.

Firing Back: Did Otis Rolley Get Advice From Chris Rock?

Comedian Chris Rock once did a whole routine on how guns wouldn’t be a problem if ammunition cost more. While a funny routine, no one should be laughing as Otis Rolley, a Baltimore, Maryland mayoral candidate has proposed a $1 per cartridge tax!

Rolley suggests this effort would cut down on crime and random gunfire. Of course how he expects to enforce this law is not clear. If Rolley had watched any episodes of HBO’s The Wire, which is set in Baltimore, he would know that the fictional drug gangs drove vast distances to obtain supplies of drugs, and even drove miles outside the city to burn disposable mobile phones (burners as they were called). What would stop criminals from driving outside the city to stock up on ammunition?

We feel that Rolley would just use this as an excuse to push for even greater restrictions against firearms and ammunition. Let’s hope that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others from Mayors Against Illegal Guns don’t jump on this band wagon.

CCRKBA.org: Baltimore Candidate Should ‘Bite The Bullet’ On Dumb Tax Idea

From the CCRKA:

A proposal by Baltimore, Maryland mayoral candidate Otis Rolley to levy a tax of $1 per cartridge in an effort to cut down crime and random gunfire in the city is typical of an anti-gun liberal who decries urban violence but offers a way for government to profit from it while not solving the problem, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

Rolley, a Democrat, is quoted by WBAL news acknowledging that raising the cost of firearms won’t work “because many criminals don’t purchase new guns, and they can be borrowed or even rented in some areas.”

“Sounds like Rolley’s trolley has left the tracks,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “If this guy actually believes that criminals rent firearms, he must live on Fantasy Island. Criminals steal firearms, even from the police, and when they do, they also steal the ammunition. Clearly, this one dollar-per-bullet tax idea comes from someone who doesn’t have a clue about criminals or the way they operate, but he does know about raising taxes.”

Rolley told a reporter that the tax would curb random shootings, especially around the holidays, by making it too expensive for people to indiscriminately discharge firearms.

“Tell that to someone who spends $300 on Fourth of July fireworks,” Gottlieb observed. “Rolley is really looking for a new revenue vehicle to fatten the city coffers, and sticking law-abiding citizens with the bill.

“Imagine what the First Amendment reaction from the press might be,” he said, “if Rolley had proposed a one-dollar tax per word in every newspaper in the city. There would be howls from every editorial board in the state, calling it a nutty idea that would not pass constitutional muster. The same goes for this proposed Second Amendment tax on recreational shooters, hunters and citizens concerned about personal protection.

“Rolley really needs a reality check,” Gottlieb concluded. “He ought to bite the bullet on this goofy proposal that shows just how far anti-gun extremists will go.”

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States. The Citizens Committee can be reached by phone at (425) 454-4911, on the Internet at www.ccrkba.org or by email to InformationRequest@ccrkba.org.

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