Month: July 2022
“One of the mechanisms by which California’s laws produce their effect is [that] we have a substantially lower prevalence of firearm ownership in this state than many other states do,” [UC Davis’s Garen J.] Wintemute says. “There are fewer of those tools in circulation…and no surprise, they get used less.”
Studies show that suicides account for more than half of U.S. gun deaths; and not to mention the casualties caused by mass shootings in schools, churches, supermarkets, and other public places. Recently, California also introduced a law that allows gun violence victims to sue gun manufacturers for the damages their products cause.
“Violence is a very complex health and social problem. There is no easy fix… the one right thing to do is a lot of things at the same time,” Wintemute says. “So that if one intervention doesn’t stop a particular sort of case, maybe another one will. To do one thing in a complex system is to simply allow that system to adapt and continue to produce what it’s going to produce.”
— Andrew D. Johnson in California’s Answer to Gun Violence Could Be a Model for the Entire Country
On the heels of our Supreme Court victory in NYSRPA v. Bruen, Governor Carney and his allies in the state legislatures decided to further infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Delawareans by signing H.B. 450 into law. NRA-ILA partnered with the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association and others and filed a lawsuit challenging H.B. 450 yesterday.
“[T]he State of Delaware criminalized possession, transportation and sale of common firearms used by law abiding citizens for lawful purposes—mislabeling them as “assault weapons” —making it a felony for law-abiding citizens to exercise their fundamental right to keep and bear such arms, the lawsuit alleges. “The State of Delaware mislabels scores of common rifles, common shotguns, common pistols, and ‘copycat’ weapons with a misnomer of ‘assault weapons’—and bans all of them outright.” Not only does the bill fail to address actual criminal conduct, but it places the lives of gun owners and their loved ones in jeopardy by banning commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms.
This is the Fourth time that NRA-ILA has partnered with the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association to challenge unconstitutional laws in Delaware. Back in 2014, we struck a policy that prohibited firearms in public housing. Then in 2017, we successfully struck to regulations that banned possessing firearms in state parks and forests. And in 2020, we struck a ban on hunting with semi-automatic firearms. NRA-ILA is proud to continue partnering with the Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association to ensure that the right to keep and bear arms is a reality in the Blue Hen State.
The case is captioned Delaware State Sportsmen’s Association v. Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security.
They say every gun has a story. A reader submission series from American Handgunner, Wheelgun Diaries seeks to tell some of those stories through the words of revolver owners.
The following stories were shared by email with permission to publish.
Problem-Solving, Kentucky-Style
In April 1963, I bought a used flattop Ruger Blackhawk in .357 Magnum for $50. That May, I flew to Anchorage, Alaska — just 30 days after the earthquake and tsunami that pretty much wrecked the state — where I worked for four months as a biologist aide. For two weeks that summer, I ran the Salcha Creek fish hatchery, located halfway between Fairbanks and Big Delta.
One day, while returning from the supply store located 50 miles away, I ran into a game warden in a one-ton truck with a Derrick mounted in the bed. He had just pulled a world class bull moose out of a bog that had been shot by some villain just for sport. It was 80 degrees and the moose had been dead for days. The question was, would the moose blow up or break in half when wrenched onto the truck?
While we were pondering the dilemma, a state trooper showed up. Then a geologist. Then another biologist. I figured half the state’s employees within 500 miles were there. Much pondering ensued with no solution. Since I was from Kentucky, I had been taught any problem that could not be solved by a bigger hammer could be solved by a big gun, and well, I had a big short-barreled .357 in a cross draw holster just begging “use me, use me!” Three shots later, the moose collapsed with much flatulence and problem was solved, Kentucky-style. I spun the Ruger around my finger several times and popped it in my holster as good as any Hollywood cowboy.
Now with the warden’s truck serving as a hearse, the whole gaggle set off for the nearby mighty Tanana River for a watery burial. A huge, nasty drainage, the Tanana runs about 20 miles an hour and took the dumped moose quickly. We all stood in reverent silence, drinking from the now warm case of beer I had in my vehicle.
When I finished my first beverage, I thought I would engage in an old Kentucky sport — throw the bottle upstream and shoot at it as it floats by. So, I did — piece of cake! The accompanying trooper bet $5 I couldn’t do it again. Bang! Thinking I had to miss some time, this repeated until I had all of their money. With empty wallets, they drove off, but not before taking the rest of my beer. It was 50 miles back to the store for more drinks and ammo, but now, with a reputation to uphold.
The Kentuckian
A Spanish Snubbie
I live in a country (Spain) where firearm ownership is rigorously restricted. However, it hasn’t always been that way. Under General Francisco Franco’s regimen, handgun permits were easier to obtain than nowadays as violence was extremely uncommon at the time, but that changed when he died in late-1975 and democracy brought the unexpected phenomenon of rising street crime. Gun laws also became more restrictive.
During this time, my Dad asked a friend for a favor, and a small, nickel, top-break snubbie revolver chambered in .38 S&W (known as “38 Corto” in Spain) found its way into our home. A Spanish Eibar replica of a Smith & Wesson revolver, it wasn’t a great gun, but it was all that was available to him. Dad allowed us to handle the unloaded gun under his close supervision, which was the very first handgun I had seen and handled.
As a kid, I was fascinated with it, and when I was 18, I obtained my sporting handgun license and came to own better handguns — but I always liked to clean and handle that old revolver. One day, a few years ago, I was visiting my dad, who was ill, and presented me the handgun. He died just a few months ago. Today, I cherish that old revolver more than ever as it brings back memories of a great and loved man.
Álvaro Vicena
Spain
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