Last week I decided I would make a “parent” site to Nevada Carry called USA Carry. I was feeling limited in the content I could display on the site without making it look like I was just posting anything. I think gun issues in other states and around the country are just as important as the ones in your hometown.Well after many hours this weekend, USA Carry is now live. It is VERY bare at the moment but it is a start. The first major feature are the upgraded Forums. We will be using them here instead of our old forums.

If you are wondering if Nevada Carry will be going away, that answer is NO. Everything will be just the same or better. We will slowly merge the two sites but will never lose focus. Eventually there will be a network of sites for every state.

We are currently working on merging the users from Nevada Carry to USA Carry. If you’d like to sign up for a new account, click here.

25 years murder-free in ‘Gun Town USA’
Crime rate plummeted after law required firearms for residents
Posted: April 19, 2007
1:52 p.m. Eastern

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Kennesaw, Ga., City Hall

As the nation debates whether more guns or fewer can prevent tragedies like the Virginia Tech Massacre, a notable anniversary passed last month in a Georgia town that witnessed a dramatic plunge in crime and violence after mandating residents to own firearms.

In March 1982, 25 years ago, the small town of Kennesaw – responding to a handgun ban in Morton Grove, Ill. – unanimously passed an ordinance requiring each head of household to own and maintain a gun. Since then, despite dire predictions of “Wild West” showdowns and increased violence and accidents, not a single resident has been involved in a fatal shooting – as a victim, attacker or defender.

The crime rate initially plummeted for several years after the passage of the ordinance, with the 2005 per capita crime rate actually significantly lower than it was in 1981, the year before passage of the law.

Prior to enactment of the law, Kennesaw had a population of just 5,242 but a crime rate significantly higher (4,332 per 100,000) than the national average (3,899 per 100,000). The latest statistics available – for the year 2005 – show the rate at 2,027 per 100,000. Meanwhile, the population has skyrocketed to 28,189.

By comparison, the population of Morton Grove, the first city in Illinois to adopt a gun ban for anyone other than police officers, has actually dropped slightly and stands at 22,202, according to 2005 statistics. More significantly, perhaps, the city’s crime rate increased by 15.7 percent immediately after the gun ban, even though the overall crime rate in Cook County rose only 3 percent. Today, by comparison, the township’s crime rate stands at 2,268 per 100,000.

This was not what some predicted.

In a column titled “Gun Town USA,” Art Buchwald suggested Kennesaw would soon become a place where routine disagreements between neighbors would be settled in shootouts. The Washington Post mocked Kennesaw as “the brave little city ? soon to be pistol-packing capital of the world.” Phil Donahue invited the mayor on his show.

Reuters, the European news service, today revisited the Kennesaw controversy following the Virginia Tech Massacre.

Police Lt. Craig Graydon said: “When the Kennesaw law was passed in 1982 there was a substantial drop in crime ? and we have maintained a really low crime rate since then. We are sure it is one of the lowest (crime) towns in the metro area.” Kennesaw is just north of Atlanta.

The Reuters story went on to report: “Since the Virginia Tech shootings, some conservative U.S. talk show hosts have rejected attempts to link the massacre to the availability of guns, arguing that had students been allowed to carry weapons on campus someone might have been able to shoot the killer.”

Virginia Tech, like many of the nation’s schools and college campuses, is a so-called “gun-free zone,” which Second Amendment supporters say invites gun violence – especially from disturbed individuals seeking to kill as many victims as possible.

Cho Seung-Hui murdered 32 and wounded another 15 before turning his gun on himself.

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