Author: Grumpy
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The Scariest Shotgun Slug you’ll ever see
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Minute of Mae: Frommer Stop
Or, at least, so it seemed.
The landowners took issue with this and fought back.
Late yesterday, the Benton County Circuit Court ruled that a statute authorizing warrantless trespassing and surveillance by Tennessee game wardens is unconstitutional. The ruling is not just a victory for Benton County landowners Terry Rainwaters and Hunter Hollingsworth, who sued with the Institute for Justice (IJ) after the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) ignored their “No Trespassing” signs by entering and installing cameras on their land. The victory also applies broadly to private land across Tennessee.
“For too long, TWRA officers have treated private land like public property—entering without permission, spying on people without a warrant, and doing it all with no meaningful oversight,” said IJ Attorney Joshua Windham. “Thanks to the court’s ruling, Tennesseans can now rest easy knowing that they’re secure from these sorts of intrusions on their land.”
“The court’s decision to declare TWRA’s constant overreach and abuse of authority unconstitutional is restoring my faith in the justice system,” said Hunter Hollingsworth. “I’m grateful for the Institute for Justice’s hard work and dedication to preserving and restoring the rights of all property owners in Tennessee. Thanks also to my local attorney Jack Leonard, who has been with me on these issues from day one.”
In addition to finding the law enabling searches unconstitutional, the court granted Rainwaters’ and Hollingsworth’s request for $1 in damages as compensation for the violation of their constitutional rights. The TWRA has 30 days to appeal the decision to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.
The issue was the state wildlife officials strapped a game camera to a tree on Hollingsworth’s and Rainwater’s respective properties as a way to monitor what they did on their own property.
This fell under something called the Open Fields Doctrine. Basically, the Supreme Court has said the police don’t need a warrant to search an open field you own, only your home and the property immediately surrounding the house.
It’s kind of like how the police don’t need a warrant to use evidence in plain view, only taken a step or two too far.
Officials in Tennessee took this idea and used it to justify placing trail cameras up on private property.
However, Tennessee takes a more narrow view of things like that, which is why this particular case went the way that it did.
What’s interesting, though, is that the Institute for Justice’s Fourth Amendment project–which was part of who represented the two landowners–has other cases, including a hunting club in Pennsylvania and a taxidermist in Ohio.
It’s interesting that all of these revolve around the hunting industry–and industry well associated with firearms.
Now, it’s entirely possible that it’s just a coincidence since it’s multiple states including some that are very pro-gun, but it’s still just enough to make me question it. Or maybe my tinfoil hat is just a bit too tight. After all, there are other Fourth Amendment cases IJ is pursuing that have nothing to do with hunting or the outdoors.
Either way, I’m glad Hollingsworth and Rainwater were victorious.
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300 H&H Magnum
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The S&W Combat Magnum Model 66
I love steel frame guns, one of my all-time favorites being the P226. I love the way a metal grip feels in my hand and how it conforms and greets me. It’s cold, unflinching, and I see why people resisted the change to polymer guns for so long. Striker-fired guns have become the norm, and they almost universally feature polymer frames. Every so often, a metal-framed, striker-fired pistol comes to be. Color me surprised when SIG released the SIG P320 AXG Scorpion and granted a metal frame to the P320 lineup.
AXG stands for Alloy XSeries Grip and infuses the P320 with a little metal frame madness. Scorpion is a moniker SIG uses for a certain series of custom pistols. Essentially it means the gun is FDE and features Scorpion grips, among a bevy of other small improvements. SIG has recently opened up a Custom Works shop, and the P320 AXG is the first gun to come out of that custom shop.
From the start, the gun just oozes quality. SIG provides a very nice, Italian-made negrini case. Inside is the gun, three magazines, a challenge coin, all nestled in custom-cut foam. The package is absolutely gorgeous. The foam allows you to remove sections to accommodate the gun with an optic and muzzle device as well. It’s a nice package for a very nice gun.
P320 AXG – Features
The SIG P320 AXG Scorpion might be SIG”s first Custom Works gun, but I can already say it won’t be their last. You don’t make a gun this nice and call it quits. Outside of the new AXG grip module, we get a very nice pistol complete with all the bells and whistles you expect. The slide is optic cut with SIG’s latest design to accommodate SIG optics, Trijicon pattern optics, and the Leupold Delta Point series.
The trigger is a flat-faced, lightened, and refined Legion trigger that’s absolutely wonderful. SIG incorporates an ambidextrous slide lock and reversible magazine release. The weapon comes in the ‘Carry’ configuration. SIG’s Carry configuration is a compact slide nestled on a full-sized grip module.
That grip module packs a Picatinny rail for all your accessory needs. Like all P320s, the FCU can be removed, and users can swap grip modules. I have an S300 and an X Series compact grip module. I’ve moved the gun to and fro when I feel like it. I also come back to the AXG grip due to the metal design and supreme comfort it provides.
If you’ve ever handled a P226, you know what to expect here. The grip fits wonderfully with a single undercut to the trigger guard. In the rear, we see an extended beavertail. Assuming a nice high grip on the gun provides good control, and these two features allow for that. The G10 grip panels are highly textured, as are the front and rear of the grip.
Love At First Pew
Do I believe in love at first sight? No, not necessarily, but I do believe in love at first pew. I instantly fell in love with the SIG P320 AXG at the range. From the first short and light trigger pull to the last. It reminded me of why I fell in love with metal frames and continues to reinforce that love.
Let’s start with accuracy cause that’s what tickled me the most. Starting at 25 yards, I worked gongs from 4 to 8 inches in size without a miss. The XRAY3 iron sights are very easy to see and focus on. This makes tracking them between shots simple. I just look for that big green insert and get back on target.
I did quickly add a red dot from SIG to the gun, the ROMEO1PRO, and saw my range increase even more. At 50 yards, I had no issues hitting a ten-inch gong and effectively removing life force from my steel IPSC target. Hearing all those dings with a pistol at 50 yards brought joy to my heart. The sights help, the grip helps, but the trigger is the workhorse here.
It’s short, light, and sweet. I can keep my sight picture throughout the entire trigger pull without issue.
Controlled Chaos
Hitting your target quickly and more than once is a keen capability to have in a fighting pistol. The big full-sized grip of the P320 AXG made controlling the weapon easy. The extra ounces and unrelenting steel make the gun very easy to control, and 9mm recoil isn’t known for its snap anyway.
The trigger has a short reset, so getting set up for the next break is intuitive and makes those double taps addicting and good fun. The P320 AXG conforms well to my hand and lets me choke up nice and high on the gun. Keeping the gun on target while feeding it a healthy dose of lead isn’t going to be a challenge. I shot the 10-10-10 drill clean in seven seconds with the P320 AXG and felt quite proud of myself.
A quick shift of the thumb finds the big round magazine release and lets you dump an old mag for a fresh one without complaint. The magazine has very a slight bevel to it, and slamming that new mag home feels easy. As usual, the SIG slide lock continually gets caught under my thumb and renders it useless, so I’ve learned to rack with every reload.
Metal Frame Madness
I’m a fan of the P320 AXG. It eats whatever I feed it and sends those little 9mm pills downrange exactly where I want them. The gun barks and bites with ease and looks good doing it. The metal frame certainly adds some ounces, so it becomes a little less carry-friendly, but a good belt and a good holster will help that.
SIG’s first Custom Works gun is a winner, and I hope to see them keep producing high-quality guns out of their latest little shop. The P320 remains one of the most customizable platforms on the market, so it’s an easy pick for custom guns. In a couple of weeks, the steel challenge match is on, and I can’t wait to see how the P320 AXG holds up in competition.
Now it seems that California is continuing to close venues to gun shows, even those that bring in revenue to the sites on which they are held.
here is a popular saying “As California goes, so goes the nation.” While it certainly doesn’t always hold true—especially where the Second Amendment is involved, the Golden State could be one step closer to banning gun shows. This week, California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed into a law a suite of gun safety bills.
Among these was a bill that makes it illegal to sell guns or ammunition on property run by the 32nd District Agricultural Association, notably Costa Mesa’s Orange County (O.C.) Fair & Event Center. SB 264 as originally introduced by state Sen. Dave Min (D-Irvine) had called for banning firearm sales on all state-owned properties, but it was later amended to only apply to the O.C. fairgrounds. However, it still ends all gun shows at the site. Since 1995, those gun shows have brought in $7 million in revenue for the fairgrounds.
On Monday, Min called the bill’s passage a major “first step” in reducing gun violence in Orange County. Min and his team were reportedly “caught off guard” when SB 264 was amended by the Assembly Appropriations Committee to apply only to the O.C. fairgrounds, but the state senator vowed to revisit a statewide ban in the future.
“The state should not be profiting off of what is essentially blood money,” Min told The Los Angeles Times, and also suggested that legal gun shows are places where alleged under-the-table deals and the purchase of parts for unlicensed ghost guns have taken place. “I think that’s an important moral line to draw in the sand right now.”
The End of California Gun Shows?
Gov. Newsom, who recently fended off a highly-contested and high-profile recall vote, had previously signed into law measures that ended gun sales at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego County and San Mateo County’s Cow Palace. Gun control advocates have said Newsom favors a statewide ban.
The efforts to ban gun shows in California aren’t exactly new and actually began in the late 1990s when Los Angeles County adopted a law that banned the sale of firearms and ammunition on its property, specifically the Fairplex, the county fairgrounds in Pomona, California, about 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
Now it seems that California is continuing to close venues to gun shows, even those that bring in revenue to the sites. However, Min said other events could fill the void, such as a “Sustainability Decathlon,” which could bring in fresh proceeds to the fairgrounds.
“I think there are plenty of ways to make up revenue,” Min also told The Los Angeles Times. “But, then again, that’s not my job. My job is to make laws, and I believe a vast majority of people in the district I represent do not want gun shows at the O.C. fairgrounds.”
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.
————————————————————————————— Its seems to be the mantra of California – ” Somewhere, some how, somebody is having fun and we gotta stop it!” Or “A New Business? Lets destroy it by taxing it & regulating it to death. Unless it is one of our favored interests” Grumpy