Here is a clip from the DVD, Never Again: A Shocking Story of Gun Confiscation In America. It is pretty amazing what they did. I’ll be ordering this DVD to see the whole thing and contribute my $$$.

By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 23, 7:02 PM ET
From Yahoo! News

NEW ORLEANS – Sixty-four-year-old Vivian Westerman rode out Hurricane Katrina in her 19th-century house. So terrible was the experience that she wanted two things before the 2006 season arrived: a backup power source and a gun. “I got a 6,000-watt generator and the cutest little Smith & Wesson, snub-nose .38 you ever saw,” she boasted. “I’ve never been more confident.” People across New Orleans are arming themselves — not only against the possibility of another storm bringing anarchy, but against the violence that has engulfed the metropolitan area in the 19 months since Katrina, making New Orleans the nation’s murder capital.

The number of permits issued to carry concealed weapons is running twice as high as it was before Katrina — this, in a city with only about half its pre-storm population of around 450,000. Attendance at firearms classes and hours logged at shooting ranges also are up, according to the gun industry.

Gun dealers who saw sales shoot up during the chaotic few months after Katrina say that sales are still brisk, and that the customers are a cross-section of the population — doctors, lawyers, bankers, artists, laborers, stay-at-home moms.

“People are in fear of their lives. They’re looking for ways to feel safe again,” said Mike Roniger, manager of Gretna Gunworks in Jefferson Parish.

Citizens, the tourism industry, police and politicians officials have been alarmed by the wave of killings in New Orleans, with 162 in 2006 and 37 so far this year. A Tulane University study put the city’s 2006 homicide rate at 96 slayings per 100,000 people, the highest in the nation.

National Guardsmen and state police are patrolling the streets of New Orleans. In neighboring Jefferson Parish, which posted a record 66 homicides in 2006, the sheriff sent armored vehicles to protect high-crime neighborhoods.

In New Orleans, police have accused the district attorney of failing to prosecute many suspects. Prosecutors have accused the police of not bringing them solid cases.

Some people are losing faith in the system to protect them.

Earnest Johnson, a 37-year-old chef who lives in Kenner, bought his first gun recently and visits a shooting range regularly. “Things are way worse than they used to be,” he said. “You have to do something to protect yourself.”

Kevin Cato, a 41-year-old contractor, bought a .45-caliber handgun for protection when he is working in some of the city’s still-deserted areas. “But it’s not much safer at home,” Cato said. “The police chased a guy through my yard one time with their guns out.”

In New Orleans, the number of concealed-carry permits issued jumped from 432 in 2003-04 to 832 in 2005-06. In Jefferson Parish, 522 permits were issued in 2003-04, and 1,362 in 2005-06.

Mike Mayer, owner of Jefferson Indoor Range and Gun Outlet in suburban Metairie, said that despite the dropoff in population, sales are up about 38 percent overall since Katrina.

Just how many guns are out there is anybody’s guess. Gun buyers in Louisiana are not required to register their weapon or obtain a concealed-carry permit if they keep the gun in their house or car.

In a measure of how dangerous New Orleans is becoming, guns are finding their way into criminal hands at an alarming rate. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ “time-to-crime” analysis of the interval between the legal sale of a gun and the time it is seized in a crime investigation is five years on average around the nation, said ATF spokesman Austin Banks. In New Orleans, time-to-crime is six months, he said.

This sometimes happens because of “straw purchases,” in which a buyer obtains a gun for someone not legally eligible to purchase one. Many guns also are stolen from homes and cars.

While many are buying guns for protection, only two defensive killings of criminals by civilians took place in New Orleans in 2006, according to police. No charges were filed against the shooters.

Westerman, an artist who lives in the city’s Algiers neighborhood, is prepared to use deadly force.

“I’m a marksman now. I know what I’m doing,” she said. “There are a lot of us. The girl next door is a crack shot.”

After ordering a Comp C-T.A.C. holster, I realized I also needed a good gun belt. A friend of mine recommended The Belt Man. I didn’t really have any other references and when I checked, they add the Velcro on the inside for the exact holster I have that used v-clips, which are Velcro clips that leave almost none of the clip visible. So I figured I’d give him a try.

There’s good instructions on how to get the correct measurement and it is clearly noted on the website so it would be hard to overlook and order the wrong size. I also checked out the F.A.Q. section which was helpful as it answered a few questions I had. One being: What if I lose weight? He says not to poke more holes in it, send it back and he can shorten it for you for $10 to cover shipping. Ok. Perfect. Time to order.

I placed the order at 6:21 PM Sunday March 4th. After checking my email with the order information a little later, I noticed I ordered the wrong width, 1.25 instead of 1.5. So I emailed him back asking if he could change my order to a 1.5. This was at 9:34 PM that Sunday. Well I get an email back at 11:04 PM:

luke, change done ! thanks for the order ! ( the beltman )

Is that fantastic service or what? I’ve ordered A LOT of things over the internet and its a joke among my friend about how bad my luck is when it comes to ordering things online. I won’t even get started. So getting service like is just refreshing.

I haven’t received the belt yet. His website says that they ship within 3 weeks of placing the order as he builds each one to order. I shot an email out today at 6:50 PM just asking for an update on my order. I got an email back at 8:40 PM saying that it was shipped on Friday and I’d have it by Tuesday. Right on time!

If the quality of this belt is anything like the service he offers, I think I’m going to be very pleased. I’ll be doing another review on the belt itself and how it works with the C-T.A.C. holster.

Gun Belts by The Belt Man

http://www.lukemccoy.com/files/Catastrophic Firearms Failure.pdf

All Armed Officers:

The attached intel report concerns the reloading and firing of handgun ammunition. If you have chambered a round and then extracted (by cycling the slide back) the same round, the force of chambering causes the bullet to seat slightly deeper into the casing.

The problems described in the attachment were catastrophic when the same round was chambered and extracted several (5-6) times and then fired, causing the barrel and slide to be propelled downrange.

Glock and SigArms confirms that this type of accident can occur by rechambering ammunition, and SigArms says in the report that rechambering a round once voids the warranty.

As a word of caution don’t rechamber a round of ammunition once chambered and extracted. We need to make sure that the extracted round is segregated from the empty casings for proper disposal.

Thank you,

Dean Fittz
SAC/Dallas
Senior Firearms Instructor

This is kind of disturbing for some reason.

From The Dude @ MoviesOnline.Ca

300 Movie Review

By: The Dude

If you’ve seen the trailer, you know that the movie looks full of obscenely ridiculous action sequences that would kick unholy amounts of arse. The movie is a two hour, R-rated version of that trailer. It inspires many an exagerrated obscene comment, but it’s completely deserving in doing so. 300 is adapted from the graphic novel by Frank Miller.

It tells the story of the 300 Spartan warriors led by their bad ass King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), as they stand up against the tens of thousands of Persians awaiting to conquer and absorb Sparta into the empire. The Persians are lead by Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), who figures himself a god among men. And the movie is about their battle. Sure, there’s a fair amount of political intrigue amongst the Queen (Lena Headey, who is quite yummy) and a traitor among the Sparta elite (Dominic West), but really the movie is about the battle, which is a technically accomplished series of fight scenes like I have yet to see before. Seriously. You’ll want to compare them to scenes from Lord of the Rings or Gladiator, but you’d be wrong. Oh my, you will be wrong. One example would be the long, unbroken shot of Leonidas fighting in the first battle, the one that doesn’t cut and keeps speeding up and slowing down, was quite invigorating, and a stand out among many great epic battle sequences.

Jaw dropping, and I might even be so inclined to say awe inspiring, battle sequences. The visuals themselves, even when not involving bloodshed or carnage, are a sight to behold. Much like the previous Miller adaptation Sin City, 300 was made with generous help from all digital environments. I don’t know how faithful the film is to the graphic novel, but I can say that it looks damn fine, like the novel had come to life. Although what I viewed tonight was a workprint, most of the effects and digital rendering had been completed, and it never looked obnoxiously fake at all. It’s a beautiful looking movie. The actors do well for their roles, with Gerard Butler as a very convincing badass leader, even though he doesn’t need to keep shouting everything as if it were a grand statement. But you know what? It doesn’t matter because I’d follow him into battle any day.

Mainly because I know that he could pretty much single-handedly take care of everyone for me, but he’d know I have his back. Zach Snyder, he of Dawn of the Dead (’04) fame, directs 300 with a sure hand, telling a rock solid tale of honor and valor and mostly about kicking ass. Looking back upon the film, I’m starting to pick up on some themes that are a little freaky if you stop to think about them. (Spartans discard imperfect babies, so as to keep their army full of the strongest. This leads one to realize that the Spartans are kind of creating their own master race. And when you think of creating a master race, Nazis also come to mind. And yet, we the viewer are supposed to identify and support these Nazis. These superior soldiers who, by the way, all kind of look like He-Man action figures, and made me feel inadequate about myself.)

There is a lot one can take away from this film. But purely on a knee-jerk visceral level, it’s going to be very hard to top this movie. It’s an adrenaline shot to your standard epic film. It packs a lot of testosterone into a two hour gap, but when compared to the bloated epics of late (Troy, Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven), it’s quite refreshing. I don’t know if I can keep lavishing praise on this film. I know this much, I can’t wait to see it again. It’s nice to see a movie that’s not afraid to do new things while at the same time telling a solid story. A story of fighting. A lot of fighting. A hell of a lot of fighting, but done so well, and in such a damn good looking movie. It’s a movie that makes you excited about movies again. Hell, it reduced me to obscene fan-boy gushing like I lost my virginity or solved the world’s economic crises, full of hyperbole and nonsensical ramblings. That’s what this movie does!!! 300 is one hell of a film.

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I can’t wait to see this film. My roommate had me read Gates of Fire which is the same story and it was a great read. I actually need to finish it before the movie comes out. I’ll be giving my own review after we go see it next Friday at the Imax.