Citing technology issues, the head of the New York State Police said he has no idea when the ammunition background checks mandated by the SAFE Act will begin across the state. Superintendent Joseph D’Amico said they have been unable to find a system that would work to perform the checks without possibly inconveniencing either the customer or the retailer. The ammo check facet of the law was supposed to go into effect on January 15th, and they have to find their own system, because federal law prohibits using the NICS system for ammunition purchases. He also spoke on the 7-round magazine limit. . .
which a U.S. District Judge recently struck down as “tenuous, strained, and unsupported,” a decision which the Cuomo administration is appealing. Despite some prosecutors’ belief that the round limit could still be enforced during the appeal, D’Amico said, “There’s pending litigation which could change it, but as of today, we’re not enforcing it.”
Your Lockdown of the Day™ comes from Brawley, California, and after yesterday’s interlude of sanity, we’re back to the nonsensical stuff. Brawley police received a report about 3 a.m. Wednesday of a gunshot victim. Police and medical responded and the victim was treated and transported. Police investigated the scene, and that investigation continued for several hours. Meanwhile, over four hours later, students began gathering at two nearby schools where the first bell rings at 7:55 a.m. An hour later, nearly six full hours after the original incident, both of those schools were inexplicably placed on lockdown for about an hour. Parents began receiving robocalls informing them of the lockdown at about 8:45 a.m. and beyond saying it was a “precaution,” nobody really seems to know why. Maybe it was just Skynet running a system test. [h/t MM]
A woman fatally shot herself with a rented gun at an indoor range in Independence Township, Michigan on Tuesday. The 28-year old woman “allegedly [why allegedly?] went into the Accurate Gun Range … bought three boxes of 0.9-mm (sic) ammunition and began practicing on the range with a rented gun.” She was found with a gunshot wound to the head when store employees checked on her after they stopped hearing shots from the range. A review of surveillance video showed that it was not an accident, but that the woman put the gun to her head and shot herself. Employees of Accurate had no comment, but a nearby range owner said, “We always have range officers on-duty. If somebody we don’t know — anyone — exhibits signs we’re not comfortable with, we don’t let them in the range.” Some signs his employees are trained to catch from prospective customers is lack of eye contact; lack of clarity or whether a customer engages an employee; lack of interest in the product and skill level with firearms. [h/t Dirk]
A Maine bill that would ban BB guns and non-firing replica firearms in schools is causing some contentious debate in recent days. Supporters say the bill is necessary to protect students from potential tragedies. Opponents say it’s too broad and would cause much harm for virtually no benefit. Supporters are concerned that police could easily mistake the fake firearms for the real thing, leading to incidents like the one in California where a 13-year-old with a BB gun was shot by a deputy who said he thought it looked like an assault rifle. Opponents say that the bill would primarily affect young people and would carry serious penalties including jail time for simple youthful mistakes, penalties that would likely follow them for the rest of their lives.
YouTuber 22Plinkster with a video review of the Ruger American Rifle in .22LR.
Pretty sweet.