Where In The World Are The Journal News Employees?

Well, for now it just seems like I should ask 'Where in NY are the journalists and other employees of the Journal News'! An intrepid blogger, at the blog Talk Of The Sound, has come up with an answer to the Journal News' interactive maps showing the locations of pistol license holders in NY's Rockland and Westchester counties. The Talk of the Sound has posted its own interactive map. This is how Robert Cox touts it in his blog: "The map indicates the addresses of all Journal News Employees in the New York Tri-State area." Click on the below link, to see the map in question:

http://www.newrochelletalk.com/content/map-where-are-journal-news-employees-your-neighborhood

As I am given to understand, some of the newsies are in a panic and reportedly have closed and or restricted their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts (source). So, while you may not be able to contact some of these cowards, via online means, who apparently have virtually run and hid, you can still have the chance of conversing with them by chance. You see, the great thing about the map produced by Talk of the Sound is that it also includes many photographs of the Journal News' employees.

This gives all law abiding gun owners, and non-gun owners, in the area, the opportunity to say 'hi' to any of these reporters they recognize from the photos, whom they may inadvertently encounter during the course of a normal day. You know, like maybe you will see and recognize one of them by chance: at the supermarket, when picking up the kids from school, when at the public library, while walking down the street, when stopped in traffic and one is in the next car over, when in a barber shop, at church, or wherever and whenever you may encounter them. You see, you are one up on them, you can ID them by having seen their pictures. I am not suggesting that anyone do anything illegal such as stalking or harassing them. Yet, if you encounter one of them by chance and recognize them because you saw his or her photo on the map - how could it be wrong to: politely say hi, and nicely tell them you are a legal gun owner or not, respectfully tell them you think what they did was pretty abhorrent and with a reporters curiosity (but while remaining respectful) ask them how they feel about having had likewise done to them? 

I imagine this is going to give them something to think about and also maybe give them a moment to pause and think about the potential outcome of trying to screw with another group of law abiding citizens.

Hat tip to Charlie F for the link to the post at Breitbart.

All the best,
Glenn B

Enjoying and/or Sweating - The Little Stuff

People are often fond of saying: "Don't sweat the little stuff". Well, it is the little stuff that gets me going. I am usually much better when facing a major problem than a small nuisance. On the flip side of that same coin, I also often like some of the smaller good things over the larger ones. I am impressed by folks with good manners like when I hold a door for someone and they say thanks, or when they hold a door for me.

The same thing applies to gifts. Don't get me wrong, I would love to receive a few million as a gift from someone (as in dollars) but I am often very pleased by smaller gifts that I get from loved ones than by big ticket items. For instance, this Christmas, my son got me a few things related to firearms. Specifically he gave me two Remington brand 1911 magazines and a set of rosewood laminated grips, for my Remington R1-1911, with the manufacturer's medallion set in each grip panel. I was more than pleased as they were the perfect gift for me as were other gifts from my daughter and wife.

A very nice looking set of grips were they, that is until I took them out of the package. Then I noted that each had what appeared to be slight tool marks on their backs around the screw holes. I guess that would have been okay by me although the ones that came with the pistol, to which these would mate, did not have those tool marks. In addition though, the right grip had pieces of wood chipped out at each screw hole. For a moment, I though they had been used, returned and repackaged for sale but then I saw the mark. There was a white mark, as if made by chalk or crayon, on the back of the right grip panel, the one with the chipped wood. I am guessing that was an inspectors mark but somehow these got out of the factory anyway. Remington makes sure to note on the packaging not to tighten the grip screws too much or you may damage the wood but seems to have taken little care not to assure the same while making them.

Talk about a major disappointment. Yeah, I know, it is the little stuff but that little stuff made me very happy big time and thus also very disappointed big time once I saw the defects. Luckily, my son still had the order confirmation email in his laptop's trash can. He is not good at saving receipts but still had this one even though he had deleted it. I fired off an email to Remington asking them to arrange for an exchange for the same thing, but this time in pristine condition. Hopefully they still have them in stock. It will put the smile back on my face when Remington makes the switch as I am pretty sure they will do without delay. But oh how it sucks for this to have happened in the first place!

So, for now, no new gun pron as I had planed to post tonight. That will have to wait until they send me the replacement grips.

All the best,
Glenn B

Ammo Conspiracy Theory?

I am not all that much into conspiracy theories although I readily admit one should be prepared for things like tyranny, government abuse of our rights, civil unrest, a police state, military takeover of our nation and so forth. Yet, I do have a kind of, a sort of, a maybe conspiracy theory of my own and I cannot figure out why the conspiracy theorists have not been jumping all over it for months already. My theory, simply put, is that the current government administration, or someone else, has somehow conspired to cause a shortage of certain types of ammunition for commercial sales to the public. If not them, perhaps the ammunition industry has conspired to cause the shortage of ammo that we have been facing for well over the past several months. 

 

Let’s look at the facts. Ammunition such as 5.56x45mm and .223 are in extremely short supply. Sure, gun enthusiasts, Doomsday preppers, conspiracy theorists and others have been buying it like there was no tomorrow. The government has also bought or contracted to buy huge amounts of it for its civilian forces. In addition, the military has bought more than the lion’s share over the past few years. Yet, regardless of wars raging and federal law enforcement using said ammo, there has always been more than enough to go around, that is until the past 6 to 9 months or so. Now, there is not one online dealer that I can find who is currently offering NATO spec 5.56x45mm 62 grain ammo by the case or half case without asking super high price gouging prices for it and even they only have a very short supply. It has been that way for weeks if not months. While there had been a small supply of it over the past half to three quarters of a year, it was consistently dwindling and is now virtually nil.

 

While you may think that due to people buying it up for whatever reasons, it seems strange to me that not one major manufacturer seemingly has supplied new stock to the market or if they have done so then it seems odder still that the distributors are not offering it for sale. For example, TheSportsmansGuide.com has several offering of 5.56x45mm ammo shown on their website but all are shown as either back ordered or out of stock. In fact they show some different brands as not expected to be back on the shelves until March, July and October of 2013. I checked with at least 10 major ammunition retailers, to see if they had 5.56x45mm ammo available in bulk with these results: NatchezShootersSupply (out), Ammoman.com (store closed due to number of orders, none available), MilitaryShooters.com (none available), AmmunitionToGo.com (all sold out), CMP (unavailable), Sportsmansguide.com (all on back order), SGAmmo (nothing available), Brownell’s (out of stock), MidwaUSA.com (either unavailable, out of stock or on back order)  CheaperThanDirt.com (one brand in stock in bulk). CTD advertised Lake City Ammo in a 1,000 round case at $999.00 which as far as I remember is about two and a half to three times what it was selling for 6 to 9 months ago and is well above 100 percent more than it was selling two months ago at most dealers.

 

Manufacturers not making more of it and sending it to retailers, when it is selling as if their will never be any ever available again, just does not make sense unless there is something preventing them from manufacturing and distributing it. I have checked the news sites and have not seen any reports of shortages of the raw materials, I have not seen us get involved in any new conflicts requiring more for the government, I have not seen foreign manufacturers nor domestic manufacturers complain that they cannot keep up with the demand, they just are jot doing it. I still think that maybe the government has been involved somehow but its only a thought. Maybe some new Customs restrictions on imported ammo preventing such from entering, maybe secret UN dealing to which President Obama has agreed, maybe contractual restrictions placed on domestic manufacturers between the manufacturers and the government preventing them from selling it to the public (this would be fiscal suicide for those companies), maybe just DHS and other federal departments and agencies buying so much of it that there is none left for the private citizen and yes they have been contracting for an awful lot of it lately. 

 

Or maybe the conspiracy, if a conspiracy at all, is not so much one effected by the government or the manufacturers but by they who fear that ammo will soon be unavailable. That would be anyone who believes the government is destroying our Constitutional rights and our liberties and buying it like crazy. Whatever it is that is responsible, one thing is certain, there is a definite shortage of 5.56x45mm NATO spec ammo (as well as run of the mill .223) and the well is almost bone dry. It has not been getting any better either. 

This issue is not limited to 5.56x45mm and .223 ammunition. Another caliber of ammo with similar shortage problems is 7.62x39mm. Is it a coincidence that both are the most popular calibers in so called "assault weapons"? I recently placed an order for a 640 round 'span can' of this caliber ammo, that was "In Stock" when I ordered it to find out, today as I wrote this blog post, that my order is on back order! A check with the company from which I ordered it shows that no ammo in this caliber is available (except for blanks).

My guess would be that soon other calibers will also be in very short supply but not in my ammo locker. We are now in conservation mode around here just waiting for whatever tomorrow will bring and wondering where is all the ammo and where are all the conspiracy theorists on this one.

All the best,
Glenn B